wirrr 


•"-• 


•SIK.EDWIN  ARNOLD 


• 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO     j 


JAPONICA 


THE    MUSMEE 


J APONICA 


BY 

SIR    EDWIN    ARNOLD   M.A.   K.C.I. E.  C.S.I. 

Author  of  "  The  Light  of  Asia  " 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS   BY    ROBERT   BLUM 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 
1891 


Copyright,  1891,  by 
Charles  Scribmr's  Sons 


TROW  DIRECTORY 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 


PREFACE 


As  I  am  quitting  Japan  a  communication  arrives  from  the 
conductors  of  "Scribner's  Magazine,"  intimating  their  desire  to 
reprint  the  articles  entitled  "  Japonica"  in  book  form,  and  in- 
viting me  to  prefix  a  few  words  by  way  of  introduction. 

The  invitation  is  welcome  on  three  grounds  :  first,  because 
it  permits  me  to  thank  my  friend  Mr.  Blum  for  his  admirable 
artistic  co-operation ;  next,  because  it  affords  me  opportunity  to 
make  sincere  apologies  for  the  necessarily  discursive  and  imper- 
fect character  of  the  subjoined  pages ;  and  lastly,  because  it  en- 
ables me  to  say,  in  bidding  farewell — /  hope  only  temporarily  — 
to  fair  and  friendly  Japan,  how  much  I  desire  to  emphasise  all 
the  favorable  things  I  have  written  about  the  land  and  people, 
and  how  deeply  grateful  I  feel  to  the  innumerable  Japanese  friends, 
of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  who  have  conspired  to  render  my 
year's  sojourn  among  them  one  of  unbroken  grace,  profit,  and 
pleasure. 

It  is  much  if  any  man  can  register,  amid  the  vicissitudes 
of  time,  one  whole  annus  delectabilis,  with  none  but  delightful 


Vlll 

experiences  and  agreeable  memories.  Yet  this  the  writer  owes  to 
the  country  he  is  leaving,  where  he  has  found  a  tranquillity  of 
life  and  of  surroundings  —  due  to  gentle  and  gracious  manners, 
everywhere  prevailing,  and  to  a  high,  though  unique  and  special- 
ised, civilisation — as  conducive  to  pleasant  study  as  it  was  re- 
storative to  a  mind  wearied  with  the  haste  ami  heat  of  our  West- 
ern daily  existence.  What  can  repay  such  a  debt  on  the  part 
of  the  stranger  except  its  warm  acknowledgment  and  life -long 
interest  in  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  beautiful  Japan? 

I  feel,  just  at  present,  that  there  is  no  word  in  any  language 
more  pathetic  and  full  of  suppressed  emotions,  than  "Sayonara," 
the  Japanese  "  Good- by."  This  kindly  people  render  parting  more 
sad  than  it  would  be  by  their  habit  of  seeing  the  very  last  of 
their  friends  and  lovers.  You  cannot,  as  you  would  wish  to  do, 

"Fold  your  tent,   like  the  Arabs, 
And  silently  steal  away." 

They  will  offer  you  farewell  banquets,  make  you  speeches  of  good- 
speed,  cover  you  with  parting  gifts  and  favors,  and  come  in 
crowds,  with  sympathising  hearts  and  moistened  eyes,  to  see  the 
train  roll  away  with  you.  It  is  especially  the  graceful  custom  to 
address  to  a  departing  friend  verses  in  the  old  classical  Japanese 
style,  inscribed  on  colored  or  gilded  paper.  The  family  of  my 
landlord  thus  honored  me  with  five  splendid  slips  of  highly-dec- 
orated verse,  one  from  each  member  of  the  amiable  household. 


Preface 


IX 


Here  are   reproductions   of  three  out   of  the   number,  faithfully 
transcribed  and  translated: 


1 

1 

K 

3 

FROM  O  YOSHI 
SAN  TO  SIR  ED- 
WIN ARNOLD. 

Honji  text  : 
Kazu  naranu 
Mi  wo  itawaribe 
Akekure  ni 

Ukeshi  megumi 
wa 

»<ll 

I1 
Y<£ 

*A 

*?  >» 

M 

FROM  O  FUKU  SAN 
TO  SIR  EDWIN 
ARNOLD. 

Honji  text  : 
Wadazumi  no 
Namiji  wo  toku 
Hedatsu  tomo 
Ikade  wasuren 
Kimi  ga  megumi 

* 

i 

.     -*• 

y   ^_     FROM  MR.  Asso 
2    }"        TO  SIR  EDWIN 
(A   ^        ARNOLD. 

r'  V><.          Honji  text  : 
Ikanirisbi 
tr4  ^  Enishi  naruran 
4     Ilarakarano 
n  L  Tomotoehi  omou 
i        /   Kotokuni   no 

(Wasure    zarama- 

fa 

7 

wo 

f-7      ) 

hito 

4 

shi 
Translation  : 

^ 

* 

Translation  : 

^L 

w 

Translation  : 

i 

Great  my  unwor- 
thiness, 

Yet,  by  your   fa- 

4 

*> 

V 

1 

Of    the    spacious 
sea 

Many  the  billows 

1 
ft 

i 

n^ 

What  was   your 
secret 

To  grow  so  near, 

"? 

l 

k 

vor,  I 

Evening   and 
morning 

Such  kindness  had 

As  cannot  be  for- 
gotten. 

4 

3 

•> 
6 

i 

Widely     dividing 
us, 

Yet,  dear  Friend, 
vainly 

Roll  they  between 
our  souls. 

& 

^ 

So   dear,  and 
brotherly  ? 

To  seem  so  kin- 
dred, 

Come  from  that 
far-off  Land  ? 

; 

2 

$ 

V* 

"Sayonara!"  then.  Farewell  to  Japan,  -with  all  hopefulness 
for  the  progress  of  this  noble  nation,  and  all  gratitude  for  the 
grace  and  friendliness  of  her  refined  and  gifted  people.  "  Sayon- 
ara!  Mat  a  o  me  ni  Kakarimas  made!  Good-by,  till  once  again, 
I  hang  in  your  honorable  eyes !  " 

EDWIN  ARNOLD. 
Kyoto,  Christmas,  1890. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

/.  JAPAN— THE  COUNTRY, i 

//.  JAPANESE  PEOPLE 41 

///.  JAPANESE  WAYS  AND   THOUGHTS,        ...    89 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  Musmcc,  .......  Frontispiece 

A  Japanese  Gardener,  . 2 

Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  House  at  Azabn,  Tokio,  ...  3 
"  The  Little  Girlish  Steps  of  a  Rlnsmcc  Tripping  down 

the  Street" 5 

/;/  a  Rice-field,  .........  9 

A  Little  Clay  Backyard, 1 1 

Head  of  the  Street,  EnosJiiina,  Showing  the  Entrance  to 

the  Temple  Grounds, 12 

Temple  Grounds  with  Buddhist  Shrine,  Uycno  Park,  Tokio,     14 
Proper  Combination  of  Species,    .         .         .         .         .         .22 

Arrangements  of  Plant-Forms,  .  .  .  .  .  -25 

On  the  Hillside  at  Enoshima, 27 

A  Street  Scene,  Enoshima, 29 

Fuji  San,  from  Gotcmba, 31 

Bent  en  Cave,  Enoshima,  .  .  .  .  .  .  -33 


List  of  Illustrations 


PAGE 


The  Plank-way  to  Bent  en  Cave,  EnosJiitna,  Japan,   .         -35 

Japanese  Wrestling  Mat cJi, 38 

Another  View  of  Sir  Edivin  Arnold's  House,       .         .         .40 

The  A  mcya, 42 

A  Japanese  Dinner  Service,  .  .  .  .  .  •  43 
"  Its  Tiny  Head  Swinging  Hither  and  Thither"  .  .  44 
"  That  is  where  all  Babies  live  in  Japan?  .  .  -45 

"  Where  Sake  is  sold" 48 

"  Teapots  and  Crockery,"     .......     49 

A   Shop  for  Lamps,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .  50 

"  Where  the  Proprietor,  Stark  Naked,  Pestles  the  Paddy".     51 

"O   Tatsu  San" 53 

"  Every  Good  House  Possesses  its  own  Furo-Do"       .         .     54 
TJie  Floivcr-pedlers,       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         -55 

"Casting  off  your  Shoes"    .         .         .         .         .         .         .61 

A  Begging  Priest, 64 

'  Wandering  Etas,"        ........     65 

'  The  Anuna,'        .........     67 

"For  it  is  Matsuri" 68 

"A  Gateivay,  Sculptured  and  Embellished  to  an  Extraor- 
dinary Height  of  Semi  -  barbarous  but  Splendid 
Beauty,"  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  71 


List  of  Illustrations  xv 

PACK 

"Screened  Walls  and  Portals,  Presenting  Wonderful  Work 

in   Wood-carving"      .         .         *         .         .         .         -73 
"  The   Tall  Ladder  of  a  Fire-station,"         .  74 

"  The  ivJiolc  Place  is  full  of  Symbolism"  .         .         .         -75 
Coming    to    the    Golden    Koi —  Waiting  -  girls    Receiving 

Guests,        .         .         .  .         .         .         .         .80 

A  Japanese  Dinner  at  the  Golden  Koi,       .         .         .         -83 
"Be  Pleased  to  Bring  the  Honorable  Account,"  .         .     87 

Japanese   Girl  bringing  Futon  and  Tobacco,       .         .         .88 
Head  of  Japanese   Woman,  .......     90 

The  Last  Glimpse  of  Japan,        .         .         .         .         .         -91 

Some   Types  of  Japanese  Babies, .         .         .         .         .         -93 

Queen  Oto   TacJiibani  Himc  Leaping  into  the  Sea,     .         .     97 
Endo  Morito  s  Remorse,        .......     99 

Tsuru-Kame  Dance,     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .107 

A  Japanese  Dance, 115 

The  "No"  Dance, 118 

"Fuji  Musmcc" 120 

Danjuro,  the  First  Actor  in  Japan, 122 

Impression  of  the  Palm  of  the  Emperor  Goshira-Kaiva,    .   126 
Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  Seal, .128 


I. 
JAPAN— THE    COUNTRY 


THEKE  are  two  Japans.  One  commenced  its  national  life, 
so  says  mythical  history,  six  hundred  and  sixty  years  be- 
fore our  era,  with  the  accession  of  the  Emperor  Jinimu 
Tenuo.  The  other,  everybody  knows,  came  into  existence  about 
twenty-three  years  ago,  in  "  the  first  of  Meiji."  Neither  of  them 
can  be  ever  at  all  completely  understood  even  by  the  most  intel- 
ligent and  indefatigable  foi:eign  observer.  You  ought  certainly 
to  have  been  bom  under  one  of  the  great  Shogunates,  the  last  of 
which  fell  amid  battle  and  revolution  in  A.D.  1868,  to  comprehend 
in  any  intimate  way  ancient  Japan ;  and  you  should  be  native- 
bred,  a  living  part  of  the  present  brand-new  order  of  things,  to 
have  a  reasonable  chance  of  feeling  as  this  people  feels  and 
looks  upon  the  outer  and  inner  world  with  their  eyes.  Let  no- 
body, therefore — least  of  all  a  mere  traveller — venture  to  theorize 
too  boldly  about  Japan  and  the  Japanese.  He  is  pretty  sure  to 
go  wrong  somewhere  if  he  does.  The  first  impressions  which  a 
fairly  intelligent  stranger  may  form  of  men  and  cities,  manners 
and  customs,  in  this  delightful  but  incomprehensible  "  Land  of 
the  Rising  Sun,"  have  their  value  if  carefully  recorded;  and  his 


4  Japonica. 

conclusions  may  not  prove  wholly  without  interest  about  its  past, 
present,  and  future,  when  he  has  learned  something  of  the  lan- 
guage, and  discovered  how  much  he  can  never  learn  upon  a  hun- 
dred intensely  attractive  points.  Even  the  artists  have  not 
really  found  out  Japan  yet ;  nor  realized  what  color,  what  nov- 
elty, what  refinement,  what  remarkable  things  in  Nature  and 
Art  and  Humanity  she  keeps  awaiting  them  in  the  silvery 
light  of  her  atmospheres,  along  with  all  sorts  of  absurdities  and 
grotesqueries.  There  are  many  and  many  landscapes,  in  the 
hills  and  along  the  sea-shores  of  these  fair  islands  which  would 
present  a  new  world  to  real  lovers  of  scenery ;  and  in  the  little, 
girlish  steps  of  a  musume,  crossing  the  mats  of  the  tea-house,  or 
tripping  down  the  street  on  her  wooden  clogs,  there  is  ofttimes 
a  grace  of  special  movement — a  delicate,  strange  play  of  folds 
and  feet — which  no  Western  painter  has  thus  far  caught,  and 
which  is  something  midway  between  the  pacing  of  fantail  pigeons 
and  the  musical  gait  of  Greek  maidens  on  the  friezes  of  the  Par- 
thenon. 

The  two  Japans  are,  of  course,  perpetually  blended.  The 
younger  nation,  which  has  only  just  come  of  age,  is  all  for  rail- 
ways, telegraphs,  and  European  developments,  including  some  of 
the  least  desirable  and  profitable.  Yet  the  older  nation  lives  on, 
within  and  around  the  Japan  of  new  parliaments,  colored  wide- 
awakes, and  Parisian  costumes,  and  from  time  to  time  fiercely 
asserts  itself.  My  lamented  friend,  the  late  Viscount  Mori,  Min- 
ister for  Japan  to  Washington,  and  afterward  to  London — and 
one  of  the  most  enlightened  of  her  modem  statesmen — was  assas- 
sinated in  Tokio  on  February  11,  1889,  really  as  an  enemy  to  the 
independence  of  his  country  on  account  of  his  reforms,  but  osten- 
sibly because  he  had  lifted  up  the  curtain  of  the  shrine  at  Ise 
with  his  walking-stick.  Only  a  few  weeks  back,  in  a  neighboring 
district,  the  editor  of  a  Japanese  journal  was  sentenced  to  four 
years'  imprisonment  for  speaking  disrespectfully  in  a  leading 


THE  LITTLE   GIRLISH  STEPS  OF  A  MUSUME  TRIPPING   DOWN  THE  STREET. 


Japan — The  Country.  7 

article  about  that  very  ancient  dignitary  the  Emperor  Jimmu. 
Considering  that  the  potentate  in  question— albeit  first  of  all 
Mikados — was  so  vastly  remote  as  to  be  declared  grandson  or 
grandnephew  of  the  Sun  Goddess  herself,  and  is  said  to  have 
conquered  Japan  with  a  sword  as  long  as  a  fir-trunk  and  the  aid 
of  a  miraculous  white  crow's  beak,  one  would  think  criticism  was 
free  as  to  His  Majesty  "  Kamu-Yamato-Iware-Biko."  But  the 
Japanese  administration  generally,  and  the  censorship  of  the 
press  in  particular,  will  have  no  trifling  with  the  established  tra- 
ditions of  Dai-Nippon.  Japan  took  from  China,  along  with  her 
earliest  imported  religion  (Shintoism),  a  measureless  respect  for 
ancestors,  however  fabulous ;  and,  strangely  enough,  while  her 
educated  people  disbelieve  the  legends  of  the  gods,  they  seem  to 
accept,  or,  at  any  rate,  demurely  repeat,  the  historical  stories 
which  relate  how  an  empress  stilled  the  waves  of  the  sea  by 
sitting  down  upon  them,  and  how  emperors  had  fishes  for  their 
ministers,  and  were  transformed  into  white  or  yellow  birds. 
Afterward,  from  China,  came  Buddhism,  and  with  it  the  all- 
important  tea-leaf  and  tea-cup ;  and  Confucianism,  if  it  had 
features  deplorably  materialistic,  yet  inculcated  that  loyalty  to 
chiefs  and  that  reverence  and  devotion  to  parents  which  have 
formed  the  keystones  of  the  Japanese  social  system. 

Nihoii  or  Nippon — like  our  own  word  Japan — are  corruptions 
of  the  Chinese  Jip-pcn,  which  means  "  The  place  the  sun  comes 
from."  Marco  Polo's  Zipangu  is  derived  from  the  same  word,  for 
it  was  by  way  of  China  that  Japan  was  first  heard  about.  In 
classic  Japanese  the  land  is  styled  "  O-Mi-Kuni,"  the  "  Great 
August  Country,"  and  the  learned  Mr.  Chamberlain  gives,  among 
many  appellatives,  yet  another  name,  which  probably  you  would 
not  wish  me  to  repeat  very  constantly — "  Toyo-ashi-wara-no-chi- 
aki-no-naga-i-ho-aki-no-mizu-ho-no-kuni " — which  signifies  "  The 
Luxuriant-Beed-Plains ;  The  Land-of-Fresh-Rice-Ears ;  of  a- 
Thousand-Streams ;  of  Song  ;  of  Five-Hundred- Autumns."  It 


8  Japonica. 

should  meanwhile  interest  all  Americans  to  be  reminded  that 
their  great  country  was  discovered,  quite  as  an  accident,  by  Chris- 
topher Columbus  on  his  first  trip,  while  he  was  really  looking 
for  Zipangu;  which  region  he  still  endeavored  perpetually  to 
reach,  on  all  his  subsequent  voyages  to  America. 

Japan  is  so  broken  up,  so  accidente  in  surface  and  contour, 
that  not  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  of  her  soil  lies  available  for 
cultivation,  and  only  two-thirds  of  it  has,  as  yet,  been  brought 
under  the  suki  and  kuiva  of  the  blue-f rocked  Japanese  farmer. 
That  hard-working  person  has  little  or  nothing  to  learn  from 
Western  science,  cultivating  his  land,  as  he  does,  with  not  less 
skill  than  industry.  Half  his  time  is  passed  knee-deep  in  the 
sticky  swamps  of  the  rice-grounds ;  but  he  seems  to  mind  this  no 
more  than  the  odors  of  the  liquid  manure  which  is  so  carefully 
hoarded  and  distributed  by  ladlefuls  with  rash  disregard  of  the 
traveller's  nose.  The  climate  suits  him  a  great  deal  better  than 
it  does  the  mere  resident  or  the  tourist.  Really  it  rains  far  too 
frequently  in  this  otherwise  charming  Japan,  and  one  can  indeed 
scarcely  expect  any  permanent  dry  weather  except  in  autumn. 
Every  wind  seems  to  bring  rain-clouds  up  from  the  encircling- 
Pacific  to  break  upon  the  evergreen  peaks  of  Nippon  ;  while  in 
winter,  so  great  is  the  influence  of  the  neighboring  Arctic  circle, 
with  its  cold  currents  of  air  and  water,  that  Christmas  in  Kiii- 
Shiu — which  lies  in  the  same  latitude  with  the  mouths  of  the 
Nile — sees  the  thermometer  sometimes  below  zero.  Except  for 
certain  delicious  periods  of  the  year,  one  cannot  honestly  praise 
the  climate  of  Japan ;  but  it  has,  all  the  while,  divine  caprices ; 
and  when  the  sunshine  does  unexpectedly  come,  during  the 
chilly  and  moist  months,  the  light  is  very  splendid,  and  of  a 
peculiar  silvery  tone,  while  the  summer  days  are  golden.  For 
this  the  tea-plant,  the  young  bamboo-shoots,  and  the  other  sub- 
tropical vegetation,  wait  patiently  underneath  the  snows  ;  indeed, 
all  the  sun-loving  plants  of  the  land  have  learned,  like  the  inhab- 


Japan — The  Country. 


9 


itants,  to  "wait  till  the  clouds  roll  by."  Some  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful know  how  to  defy  the  worst  weather  with  a  curious  hardi- 
hood. You  will  see  the  camellias  blossoming  with  the  ice  thick 
about  their  roots,  and  the  early 

k-» 

plumb-looms  covered  with  a  fall 
of   snow  which   is   not   more 
white  and  delicate  than  the 
petals  with  which  it  thus 
mingles. 

The  landscape 
in  Japan  takes  a 
double  character, 
from  her  subtrop- 
ical latitude,  and 
her  Siberian  vi- 
cinity. The  zones 
and  kingdoms  of 
the  North  and 
South  meet  as  on  a 
border  region,  in  the  beau- 
tiful islands.  You  might 
think  yourself  in  Mexico  or 
India  on  many  a  July  or 
August  day,  for  the  strong 
sun  and  the  palms  and  bam- 
boos. April  and  October, 
with  peach,  azalea,  and  cher- 
ry flower  at  one  time,  and  peonies  and  chrysanthemums  at  the 
others,  make  one  recall  Italy  and  southern  England ;  and  then 
again  at  December,  the  bare  deciduous  trees,  with  dark  patches 
of  pine  and  laurel,  bring  to  thought  Kamchatka  or  Scandinavia. 
On  the  wrhole,  though  a  fairly  healthy  climate,  and  excellent,  ap- 
parently, for  children,  it  must  not  be  greatly  praised.  Autumn 


IN  A  RICE-FIELD. 


10  Japonica. 

and  spring  are  the  best  seasons.  The  June  rains  are  followed  by 
six  sultry  weeks  called  do-yo,  which  prove  very  "muggy"  and 
trying,  and  from  November  to  March  the  cold  is  extremely 
bitter,  and  the  winds  ofttimes  savagely  bleak.  Tokio  has  58.33 
inches  of  yearly  rainfall,  as  against  24.76  at  Greenwich.  Grass 
lawns,  for  all  that,  do  not  turn  green  until  May.  By  an  un- 
happy arrangement  of  Nature,  north  winds  blow  steadily  in  the 
winter,  and  the  southerly  winds  pretty  constantly  all  the  summer  ; 
but  one  must  remember,  while  thus  generalizing,  that  Japan  is  a 
large  and  long  country,  touching  the  Arctic  circle  at  the  Kuriles, 
and  the  Tropic  of  Cancer  at  the  Loo-Choo  group,  and  exhibits, 
accordingly,  many  climates. 

Countries  always  seem  to  me  to  possess,  as  much  as  individu- 
als, a  countenance,  features,  lineaments ;  composed  in  some  man- 
ner, more  easily  felt  than  denned,  of  geological,  floral,  botanical, 
zoological,  and  other  local  characteristics  in  looks  and  colors,  so 
that  I  think  I  should  know  India,  Egypt,  Norway,  Palestine, 
Italy,  Greece,  and  America,  in  fact,  whatever  regions  I  may  have 
visited,  in  whatever  nook  or  comer  of  them  I  chanced  to  be 
dropped.  So,  after  a  while,  one  forms  an  ideal  of  the  "face  of 
Japan" — and  fair  and  noble,  and  very  fitted  to  awaken  patriotic 
attachment  is  that  face.  The  normal  landscape  in  Japan  is 
not  grotesque,  nor  in  the  least  unnatural,  as  some  have  perhaps 
imagined  who  judge  it  by  the  screens,  the  fans,  and  the  lac- 
quered boxes  of  its  artists.  This  people  loves  to  play  with  Nat- 
ure, dwarfing  her  trees,  twisting  them  into  fantastic  forms,  fill- 
ing a  little  clay  backyard  with  bowlders  of  granite  or  limestone  ; 
piling  up  miniature  mountains  in  a  bit  of  a  garden,  and  creating 
upon  them  minute  forests,  tiny  lakes,  and  bridges  for  fairies  to 
cross.  But  Japan  herself,  and  at  large,  is  as  sane  and  sweet  of 
aspect  as  Scotland  or  New  England  ;  with  a  general  cat'Jtet  about 
her  scenery,  less  of  what  is  wild  and  grand  than  of  what  is  re- 
poseful, charming,  and  gracious.  The  typical  Japanese  land- 


Japan — 7 'be  Country. 


11 


scape  along  the  southern  shores,  between  Kioto  and  Tokio,  is 
distinctly  special  to  the  country  ;  more  so  than  the  hill  regions, 
which  remind  you  of  many  other  wooded  and  mountainous  dis- 


A   LITTLE   CLAY   BACKYARD. 


tricts,  until  you  note  the  vegetation  closely.  Wide  flats  of  land, 
either  levelled  by  alluvial  action  or  carefully  laid  out  in  terraces 
along  the  whole  course  of  a  valley,  are  seen  marked  off  in  regular 
squares  and  oblongs  for  rice  and  other  moisture-loving  crops. 
These  are  kept  almost  perpetually  under  water,  divided  by  uar- 


12 


Japonica. 


HEAD  OF  THE  STREET,  ENO- 
SHIMA.  SHOWING  THE  EN- 
TRANCE TO  THE  TEMPLE 
GROUNDS. 


•/ it- 


banks  of  earth,  where 
the  cultivators  can  just  pass 
in  single  tile  ;  and  in  winter  they 
present    a    rather    dreary    vista    of 
gleaming   swamps    and    black    rice- 
roots.     At  Nagoya,  in  the  great  military  manoeuvres, 
it  was  a  curious  spectacle  to  see  a  large  body  of  in- 
fantry suddenly  thrown  into  one  of  these  rice-valleys,  to  cross  to 
the  opposite  hills  in  order  to  deliver  an  attack  upon  the  Emper- 


Japan — The  Country.  13 

or's  central  batteries.  For  soldiers,  loaded  with  anus  and  ammu- 
nition, the  rice-fields  themselves  were  impassable,  and  the  four 
or  five  thousand  men  engaged  spread  out  in  long  strings  upon 
every  slender  bank,  like  a  swarm  of  ants  defiling  along  the  lines 
of  a  chess-board.  Overhanging  the  rice-plots  are  generally  hills 
covered  with  groves  of  bamboo,  fir,  paulonia,  and  beach,  with 
long  glens  running  into  them,  which  are  all  terraced  for  rice  and 
wet  crops.  At  the  foot  of  the  hills,  or  in  single  long  streets  on 
either  side  of  the  main  road,  running  beneath  them,  gather  the 
villages,  all  on  the  same  model,  except  that  the  ridge  of  the 
thatched  roof,  perhaps,  will  be  differently  fashioned  in  different 
localities.  Some  may  be  newer  and  cleaner  than  others,  some 
large,  and  some  very  humble  ;  but  all  contain  the  same  kind  of 
apartments,  raised  about  two  feet  from  the  ground,  with  the  clean 
mats  which  no  boot  or  shoe  ever  profanes ;  the  sliding-paper 
shoji,  and  the  amado,  or  rain-shutters ;  the  fire-box,  the  hanging 
picture  on  the  wall,  the  pot  of  flowers  or  bunch  of  lilies  in  the 
bamboo-stand,  and  a  "  Butsumono,"  or  shrine  of  Buddha.  Some- 
where amid,  or  near,  the  houses  rises  the  village  temple,  being  in 
architecture  merely  a  rather  superior  sort  of  hut,  but  dignified, 
especially  if  Shinto,  by  a  torii,  a  "bird-perch"  built  across  the 
paved  way,  or  steps  leading  to  it.  This  is  a  gateway  of  stone 
posts  and  a  twofold  lintel,  the  latter  with  up-curved  ends,  after 
the  Chinese  fashion.  If  it  be  a  Shinto  fane,  white  paper — cut  in 
connected  squares,  and  intended  to  signify  and  to  replace  offer- 
ings of  cloth — will  dangle  and  flutter  from  the  curved  stone 
beams.  Round  about  the  shrine — which  will  have  no  image 
if  it  be  Miya,  i.e.,  Shinto,  but  will  disclose  a  gilded  Buddha 
or  one  of  the  Bucldhisats,  if  it  be  a  fera,  a  Buddhist  holy 
place — is  usually  seen  a  dense  and  shadowy  grove  of  trees — 
bamboos,  cryptomerias,  black  and  red  pines — sawara,  hi,  and 
maki — with  the  awogiri,  from  which  are  manufactured  the 
wooden  patterns  of  the  Japanese.  The  old  idea  was  thereby  to 


14 


Japonica. 


supply  timber  to  repair  or  rebuild  the  temples  ;  but  as  the  trees 
grow  older  they  become  sacred  and  are  girdled  with  a  band  of 
straw  rope  to  denote  this.  Shinto,  which  is  not  Confucianism, 


TEMPLE   GROUNDS   WITH   BUDDHIST 
SHRINE,   UYENO  PARK,    TOKIO. 


can  hardly  be  called  a 
religion,  since  it  has  no 
doctrines,  no  scriptures, 
no  moral  code  ;  origin- 
ally it  was  a  worship  of  the  Powers  of  Nature,  and  of  ancestors  as 
gods.  Ama-Terasu,  Goddess  of  the  Sun,  bequeathed  to  the  first 
and  to  all  succeeding  Mikados  a  mirror,  a  sword,  and  a  jewel, 
which  used  to  be  guarded  by  a  virgin  daughter  of  the  ruling  em- 
peror in  the  great  shrine  at  Ise.  Buddhism,  entering  Japan 


Japan — The  Country.  15 

six  centuries  after  Christ,  put  Shinto  aside,  or  greatly  modified 
it,  down  to  A.D.  1700.  The  Buddhist  priests  assimilated  the 
Shinto  gods ;  and  their  religion  became,  as  it  is,  indeed,  now, 
that  of  the  people  at  large  during  all  this  long  period.  Then 
lyeyasu,  the  great  Shogun,  first  printed  the  Confucian  classics, 
and  the  principles  of  the  arch  Opportunist  of  China  thus 
mingled  with  the  already  much  mixed  Ilyobu-Shinto  to  con- 
tribute the  state  of  things,  social  and  civil,  which  was  subverted, 
at  least  politically,  in  1868.  Then  everything  was  commanded 
to  go  back  to  "  pure  Shinto,"  and  to  the  ancient  system  of  the 
Sun  Goddess,  but  only  the  civil  side  of  this  revolution  has 
ever  really  triumphed.  Buddhism,  in  a  diluted  degree,  is  more 
than  ever  the  religion  of  the  nation  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  describe 
how  lightly  the  Japanese  take  the  spiritual  side  of  life.  They 
are  an  extremely  undevotional  people,  without  being  on  that  ac- 
count irreligious.  They  blend  every  EnnicJii  or  Mateuri,  that  is 
to  say,  their  "  Saints'  days,"  with  a  fair  or  festival ;  and  "  divine 
service  "  consists  with  them  of  very  little  more  than  pulling  the 
rope  of  the  gong  at  the  temple  entrance,  clapping  the  palms,  re- 
peating a  whispered  prayer  with  bowed  head,  and  then  throwing 
a  copper  coin  on  the  matted  floor  or  into  the  offering  box.  It  is, 
however,  very  proper  to  wash  the  hands  before  doing  all  this,  in 
a  stone  cistern  near  the  gate,  and  serious  people  often  purchase 
from  the  priests  slips  of  paper  inscribed  with  the  name  of  a  god, 
or  with  the  formula  Nama  Amida  Butsu,  and  hang  these  sacred 
treasures  up  at  the  doors  of  their  houses  to  keep  away  robbers 
and  fire ;  or  else  put  them  before  the  family  shrine  along  with 
the  little  brass  lamp  and  the  stick  of  senko. 

The  typical  Shinto  temple,  with  its  emblems,  is  well  described 
by  Mr.  Satow.  All  that  is  visible  to  the  eye  of  the  worshipper  is 
a  bundle  of  paper  cuttings  attached  to  an  upright  wand,  or  a  mir- 
ror in  the  centre  or  back  of  an  open  chamber.  But  behind  the 
grating  in  the  rear  is  a  sanctum,  within  which  not  even  the  chief 


16  Japonica. 

priest  may  intrude,  except  011  rare  occasions,  where  the  emblem 
of  the  god  is  kept  enshrined,  box  within  box,  and  enveloped  in 
innumerable  wrappings  of  silk  and  brocade.  Tradition  alone  in- 
forms people  in  each  case  what  this  emblem,  or  mi-tama-shiro 
(representation  of  the  august  spirit)  is.  Sometimes  it  will  be  a 
mirror,  or  a  sword,  a  curious  stone,  or  even  a  shoe,  the  mirror 
being  characteristic  of  the  female,  the  sword  of  male  deities. 

Along  the  southern  shores  orange  and  lemon  trees  will  be  seen 
upon  the  sunny  uplands,  and  everywhere,  indeed,  this  blending 
of  subtropical  with  temperate,  and  frigid  vegetation  characterizes 
the  changeful  and  charmful  face  of  Japan.  Barley  and  rice,  bam- 
boo and  pines,  wild  weeds  of  England  with  thickets  of  Corsica 
or  California  are  found  growing  side  by  side.  Dr.  Rein  has  spec- 
ially named  this  Japanese  region  "  the  kingdom  of  magnolias, 
camellias,  and  arabias,"  but  it  is  a  real  paradise  of  botanists  for 
variety.  Japan  counts,  in  forest  trees  alone,  165  species  and 
66  genera,  against  85  species  and  33  genera  of  the  continent  of 
Europe  ;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  eastern  America  and  Japan 
possess  no  less  than  65  genera  in  common. 

Well  does  Japan  deserve  these  forest  riches.  She  knows  how 
to  value  the  beautiful  variety  in  the  grain  of  her  timbers,  and  to 
produce  with  them,  in  house-building,  cabinet  work  and  joinery, 
all  manner  of  delightful  effects.  Nowhere  will  you  see  in  this 
country  the  abomination  of  wood  grained  by  the  painter  in  imita- 
tion of  something  which  it  is  not.  It  is  rare  even  to  observe  paint 
anywhere  placed  upon  wood  at  all ;  even  the  junks  and  sampans 
are  uncolored  and  unpitched.  A  Japanese  carpenter  and  ship- 
wright takes  care  to  have  his  wood  well  seasoned,  and  then  leaves 
it  naked  and  natural,  to  last  as  long  as  it  may  in  its  own  fashion. 
The  bright  and  glossy  pine-planks,  of  which  the  houses  in  every 
town  and  village  are  constructed,  soon  change  color,  of  course, 
under  the  sun  and  rain,  into  the  subdued  gray  of  weather-worn  fir 
stuff ;  but  the  general  hue  is  still  sober  and  pleasing,  with  the  con- 


Japan— The  Country.  17 

trast  of  the  black  and  white  tiles,  the  white  shoji,  the  dark  polished 
platforms,  and  spotless  mats.  In  the  interior  of  the  house  the 
Japanese  citizen  revels  in  the  variety  and  tints  of  the  timbers 
furnished  by  his  forests.  He  will  have  a  natural  cherry-tree  trunk 
in  the  middle  of  his  principal  apartment ;  and  pine-stems,  merely 
stripped  of  their  bark,  at  the  comers  of  each  room ;  while  the 
ceiling  will  perhaps  be  composed  of  broad  planks,  selected  for 
their  beauty,  of  cryptomeria.  A  curious  taste,  however,  prevails 
for  beams  and  boards  of  worm-eaten  wood.  Your  Japanese  builder 
or  householder  loves  the  strange  pattern  into  which  the  Teredo 
Navalis  or  the  Dakboring  insect  will  drill  a  pile  or  a  trunk.  He 
saws  and  planes  these  just  enough  to  show  the  fantastic  filigree 
of  those  strange  creatures,  and  then  proudly  puts  them  up  as 
gate-posts  or  bressumers.  He  will  cut  a  partly  hollow  tree  into 
many  planks,  and  glory  in  the  quaint  patterns  which  he  obtains 
by  laying  these  side  by  side  together  along  the  front  of  his  abode. 
He  knows  how  to  get  from  cross-sections  and  slices  of  bark  and 
root  all  kinds  of  new  lines  and  colors ;  and  there  are  towns  and 
villages  in  and  about  the  hills,  like  Yumoto  and  Miyanoshita, 
where  scores  of  shops  sell  nothing  but  slabs  of  carefully  sawn 
timber,  and  where  hundreds  of  ingenious  articles  are  turned  or 
fashioned  from  every  tree  and  root  and  bark  that  can  be  found  in 
the  forest. 

Special  in  their  love  and  use  of  wood  the  Japanese  are  also  as 
peculiar  and  as  much  apart  from  the  West  in  their  regard  for,  and 
their  dealings  with,  flowers.  But  by  "  flowers  "  they  mean  less 
and  more  than  we.  They  include  all  handsome  and  ornamental 
leaves,  stems,  branches,  and  even  stumps  and  roots.  The  blossom 
is  for  them,  though  they  love  color,  rather  a  detail  than  the  cen- 
tral point ;  and  a  great  spray  of  pine,  of  cedar,  or  of  maple  ranks 
above  most  of  mere  blooms.  There  is  an  aristocracy  of  flowers 
with  them,  very  severely  defined.  The  seven  princely  or  primary 
flowers  are  the  Kiku,  or  chrysanthemum  ;  the  narcissus,  or  Suisen  ; 


is  Japonica. 

the  maple,  or  Momiji ;  the  cherry,  or  Sakura  ;  the  peony,  or  So- 
tan  ;  the  wistaria,  or  Fuji,  and  the  evergreen  rhodea,  or  Oinoto. 
The  iris  is  also  of  princely  dignity,  but  must  not  be  employed  at 
weddings  because  of  its  purple  color. 

Those  who  would  understand  to  what  a  pitch  Japanese  fancy 
has  raised  the  art  of  flower  arrangement  should  study  a  most 
erudite  article  published  in  the  "  Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  So- 
ciety of  Japan  "  upon  this  fascinating  subject.  Without  the  aid 
of  such  guidance,  your  Japanese  gardener  would,  indeed,  make 
you  understand  in  a  very  little  time,  by  the  daily  floral  adorn- 
ments which  he  constructs,  how  little  you,  as  an  European  or 
American,  know  upon  the  topic,  and  what  scientific  ideas  ought 
to  govern  it.  But  we  must  go  to  Mr.  Conder  to  get  a  just  notion 
of  true  principles  in  floral  decoration.  Those  who  well  under- 
stand them  are  declared  to  possess,  by  simple  force  of  such 
superior  knowledge,  the  subjoined  ten  virtues : 

Koishikko.     The  privilege  of  associating  with  superiors. 

Sejijo  joko.     Ease  and  dignity  before  men  of  rank. 

Muitannen.     A  serene  disposition  and  forgetfulness  of  care. 

Dokuraku  ni  Katarazu.     Amusement  in  solitude. 

Somoku  meichi.  Familiarity  with  the  nature  of  plants  and 
trees. 

Shu j  in  aikio.     The  respect  of  mankind. 

Chobo  furiu.     Constant  gentleness  of  character. 

Seikon  gojo.     Healthiness  of  mind  and  body. 

Shimbutsu  haizo.     A  religious  spirit. 

Showaku  ribtesu.     Self-abnegation  and  restraint. 

What  Japanese  love  and  strive  for  in  arranging  flowers  is 
that  which  they  value  most  in  all  their  arts,  namely,  balance  and 
beauty  of  line.  The  charm  of  their  dancing — of  which  I  shall 
hope  to  speak  more  at  length  later  on — springs  from  the  same 
"  language  of  line,"  and  he  who  does  not  know  and  feel  the  sub- 
tle secrets  of  this  will  vainly  seek  to  derive  from  Japanese  art  of 


Japan — The  Country.  ID 

any  kind  the  exquisite  pleasure  it  can  impart  to  the  eye  and 
mind.  Your  European  florist — who  masses  together  his  roses, 
and  gardenias,  his  maiden-hair  ferns  and  ealla-lilies,  surround- 
ing them  with  a  dish  of  green,  and  an  outer  overcoat  of  lace 
paper — appears  to  the  Japanese  lover  of  flowers  lower  than  a 
barbarian.  He  has  lost  —  to  the  Japanese  mind  —  the  chief 
charms  of  flowers  and  leaves,  which  consist  in  their  form  of 
growth,  their  harmonious  asymmetry,  and  their  natural  rela- 
tions. Every  school  of  flower  arrangement  in  Japan  would 
scorn  his  rural  bow-pot  or  guinea  bouquet,  and  teach  him  far 
nobler  thoughts.  Each  school  possesses  its  own  secret  tradi- 
tions, called  Hiden,  only  imparted  to  the  very  proficient.  Tho 
most  popular  of  modern  floral  schools  is  the  Enshin,  founded 
by  Kobori  Totomi  no  Kami,  a  servant  of  the  great  Shoguu 
Tyemasu.  This  cult  observes  three  chief  rules :  The  first, 
called  Kioku,  is  the  art  of  giving  feeling  and  expression  to 
compositions;  the  second,  called  SJnt.su,  is  the  art  of  conveying 
the  particular  nature  of  the  growth,  and  the  third,  called  Ji, 
refers  to  the  principle  of  keeping  in  mind  the  particular  season, 
in  the  proper  use  of  buds,  open  flowers,  withered  leaves,  dew,  etc. 
What  the  floral  artist  in  Japan  most  contemns  and  avoids  is 
tame  duplicated  symmetry.  Nature  will  have  none  of  it,  nor  he, 
her  scholar.  If,  as  in  her  butterflies  and  double  leaves,  she 
must  be  equilibriated,  she  redeems  it  with  gorgeous  color  or  by 
a  varied  back  or  edge  to  the  wing  or  leaf.  But  you  may  balance 
asymmetry,  which  the  Japanese  flower-lover  effects  by  a  scientific 
disposition  of  his  stems  and  leave-masses.  It  is  not  possible  to 
give  here  the  elaborate  nomenclature  of  his  .shins  and  sos.  He 
has  names  for  all  important  parts  in  the  display  of  his  flower- 
vase  :  For  a  triple  arrangement  the  terms  of  Chichi  (Father), 
Haha  (Mother),  Ten  (Heaven)  are  used.  For  the  quintuple 
form,  Chimed  (Centre),  Kita  (North),  Minami  (South),  Higaslti 
(East),  Nisid  (West),  also  Tsucld  (Earth),  Hi  (Fire),  Mizu 


20  Japonica. 

(Water),  Kane  (Metal),  Ki  (Wood),  also  Ki-iro  (Yellow),  Aka 
(Red),  Kuro  (Black),  Shiro  (White),  Ao  (Blue),  are  all  employed. 
There  must  by  no  means  occur  "nagashi,"  or  long  streaming 
sprays,  on  both  sides  of  the  grouping.  Certain  defects  in  the 
cross-cutting  of  branches  or  stalks  must  be  needfully  guarded 
against ;  "  window-making,"  when  these  intersect  so  as  to  suggest 
loop-holes  ;  "lattice-making,"  when  they  cross  to  give  the  idea  of 
trellis-work.  Parallelism  is  held  detestable  ;  it  must  be  pre- 
sented from  no  point  of  sight ;  and  albeit  the  flower-structure  is 
intended  to  be  studied  and  enjoyed  where  it  stands  upon  the 
toku-no-ma,  or  "  place  of  honor,"  from  a  front  view,  still  the 
composition  must  endure  to  be  regarded  with  artistic  satisfaction 
from  right  or  left.  The  vessels  or  stands  to  receive  the  flowers 
obey,  in  their  shape  and  material,  certain  well-fixed  rules.  Many 
are  very  splendid  pieces  of  bronze,  carved  wood,  or  porcelain,  but 
that  is  not  imperative.  The  illustrious  Yoshimasa,  an  ancient 
and  accomplished  patron  of  this  refined  art,  preferred  wicker-bas- 
kets, after  Hakoji,  a  Chinese  weaver,  had  offered  him  one.  The 
lowly  craftsman  in  forwarding  his  tribute  made  the  humble  re- 
quest that  so  unworthy  an  object  should  be  embellished  by  an  or- 
namental stand  when  placed  before  the  Regent.  Yoshimasa,  it 
is  said,  was  so  pleased  with  its  simple  elegance  that  he  ordered 
it  to  be  placed  immediately  upon  the  polished  dais  without  any 
stand  or  tray.  Hence  the  custom  of  dispensing  with  the  stand 
or  tray  used  under  similar  flower  vessels.  Hakoji  returned  to  his 
mountain  cottage  and  continued  his  occupation  of  basket-making 
with  the  assistance  of  his  daughter  Eeshojo,  who  herself  origi- 
nated a  basket  of  somewhat  different  shape.  Hence  the  two 
kinds  of  flower  Kayo,  the  one  called  Hokoji  gata,  and  the  other 
Reshojo  gata.  Quite  as  popularly-favored  a  receptacle  as  any  is 
the  simple  bamboo  stick,  cut  into  flower-holders ;  and  not  less 
than  forty-two  methods  are  solemnly  named  for  notching  and 
shaping  the  cane.  They  begin  with  the  Shishi  guchi  gata,  or 


Japan— The  Country.  21 

" Lion's-mouth  shape,"  and,  then,  there  is  the  "travelling-pil- 
low," the  "  singing-mouth,"  the  "  shark's  jaw,"  the  "  oar-blade/1 
the  "lantern,"  the  "climbing  monkey,"  the  "five  storeys,"  the 
"  icicle,"  the  "bird-cage,"  the  "  flute,"  the  "bridge,"  the  "  stork's 
neck,"  the  "  bell,"  the  "  top,"  the  "  cap,"  the  "  conch  shell,"  the 
bento,  or  "  dinner-box,"  and,  lastly,  the  taki-robori-ryo  gata,  or 
"  cascade-climbing-dragon's  form."  The  astonishing  fertility  in 
invention  of  the  Japanese  carpenter  moulds  the  natural  bamboo- 
cane  into  all  these  shapes  for  flower  and  branch  holders.  It  is 
customary  to  suspend  behind  them  a  tablet  of  wood,  lacquered 
black,  and  inscribed  with  a  poem  in  golden  letters.  Sometimes 
the  bamboo  is  cut  into  fantastic  forms  of  boats  and  rafts  and 
junks.  Flowers  and  branchlets  are  disposed  in  these  for  symboli- 
cal meanings  and  in  strict  accordance  with  natural  propriety. 
Mr.  Conder  says  :  "In  all  compositions,  single  or  combined,  the 
special  nature  and  character  of  the  different  materials  employed 
are  carefully  kept  in  mind,  and  anything  at  all  suggestive  of  the 
inappropriate  most  scrupulously  avoided.  An  important  distinc- 
tion is  made  between  trees  and  plants,  and  another  distinction  is 
made  betwreen  land  and  water  plants.  The  locality  of  produc- 
tion, whether  mountain,  moor,  or  river,  considerably  influences 
the  arrangements  in  composition.  Each  flower  has  its  proper 
season  or  month,  and  many  flowers,  which  continue  throughout 
several  seasons,  have  special  characteristics  peculiar  to  the  differ- 
ent seasons.  Such  different  characteristics  are  carefully  observed 
and  followed  in  the  artificial  arrangements,  subject,  of  course,  to 
the  general  rules  of  art."  And  again:  "In  combining  several 
species  in  one  composition  it  is  laid  down  as  an  important  law 
that  the  branches  of  a  tree,  technically  called  Ki,  should  never  be 
'  supported '  on  both  sides  by  a  plant,  technically  called  Kusa,  nor 
should  Kusa  be  '  supported  '  on  both  sides  by  Ki.  In  case  of  a 
treble  arrangement  two  Ki  may  be  combined  with  one  Kusa,  but 
the  Kusa  must  not  be  in  the  centre  of  the  composition.  As  an 


22 


Japonica. 


example  of  defective  arrangement  may  be  taken  a  composition 
with  an  iris  (Kttsa)  in  the  centre  and  branches  of  azaleas  and 
camellia  (AT),  on  either  side.  A  correct  composition  would  be 
that  of  the  pine  (AT),  plum  (Ki)  and  bamboo  (Kusci),  with  the 
pine  in  the  centre  and  the  plum  and  bamboo  on  either  side.  The 
plum  might  equally  well  be  placed  in  the  centre,  and  the  pine 
and  bamboo  on  either  side."  Thoroughly  to  comprehend  this 

intricate  and  dainty  art 
one  must  either  observe 
the  daily  practice  of  the 
Japanese  flower-composer, 
who  is  a  veritable  poet  of 
the  parterre,  or  study  the 
plates  which  enrich  Mr. 
Conder's  most  admirable 
article.  Here  is  one  illus- 
trating the  last-mentioned 
rule  and  giving  an  idea  of 
the  Shin-Gio-So  style. 

For  these  consummate 
flower  -  artists  there  are 
sexes,  as  has  been  said,  in 
flowers  and  foliage,  apart  from  botanical  science.  The  front 
of  leaves  is  male,  the  back  female  ;  buds  and  overblown  blos- 
soms are  feminine,  full  blooms  are  masculine.  These  must  be 
fitly  wedded,  having  regard  to  the  dignity  of  rank  and  color, 
for  the  colors  have  also  respective  rank  and  sex.  The  idea  of 
respective  rank  is  applied  principally  to  colored  flowers  of  the 
same  species.  In  most  cases  the  white  flower  of  every  species 
takes  highest  rank,  but  there  are  exceptions  to  this.  Among 
chrysanthemums  the  yellow  kind  ranks  first ;  of  peach  blossoms, 
the  pale  pink  ;  of  the  Yamabuki  (Kerria  Japonica),  yellow  (al- 
though a  white  species  exists) ;  of  the  iris,  purple  ;  of  the  camellia, 


Proper  Combination  of  Species. 


Japan — The  Country.  23 

red ;  of  the  wistaria,  pale  purple  in  preference  to  white  ;  of  the 
tree  peony,  red ;  of  the  Kikiyo  (Platycodon  Granditiora),  light 
purple;  of  the  Shakuyaku  (Peonia  Albiflora),  light  red;  of  the 
convolvulus,  dark  blue  ;  and  of  the  cherry  blossom,  pale  pink, 
take,  respectively,  first  rank. 

Among  colors,  red,  purple,  pink,  and  variegated  colors  are 
male ;  and  blue,  yellow,  and  white  are  female.  Colors  which  do 
not  harmonize  are  separated  by  green  leaves  or  white  flowers. 
Among  leaf  colors  a  rich  deep  green  ranks  first.  Common 
flowers,  Zokica,  must  not  be  employed ;  nor  cereals,  Gokoku ; 
nor  poisonous  plants,  nor  those  with  a  very  strong  odor,  and 
there  is  a  long  list  of  blossoms  utterly  prohibited  for  felicitous 
occasions — a  kind  of  gardener's  "  Index  Expurgatorius  " — upon 
which  figure  many  a  favorite  flower  of  the  West,  such  as  aster, 
dianthus,  azalea,  daphne,  poppy,  magnolia,  orchids,  gentian, 
rhododendron,  ipomoea,  smilax,  thyma,  and  hydrangea.  Herein, 
it  must  be  confessed,  our  Japanese  masters  seem  rather  arbi- 
trary ;  but  they  adduce  grave  reasons  for  the  ostracism  of  these 
and  forty  or  fifty  other  denizens  of  the  garden.  In  the  Konrei-no- 
hana,  or  wedding  decorations,  red  is  regarded  as  male,  and  white 
as  female.  Hence,  in  the  case  of  a  Muko  (a  son-in-law  adopted 
by  marriage  into  the  family  of  the  bride),  the  bridegroom  is 
virtually  regarded  as  the  guest  of  the  occasion,  and  therefore  the 
Shin  or  central  line  of  the  floral  design  must  be  of  the  male  color 
— red  ;  while  the  Soye,  or  supporting  line,  is  of  the  female  color 
—white.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a  Yome,  or  bride,  is  adopted 
into  the  family  of  her  husband  the  female  color — white,  has  the 
central  position  in  the  arrangement.  In  both  cases  the  stems  of 
the  flowers  used  must  be  firmly  connected  at  the  base  to  signify 
union,  and  bound  with  colored  ribbon,  called  Mizuliiki.  Purple 
flowers  are  prohibited  for  weddings,  as  also  willow  branches  and 
other  drooping  plants.  Hanging  vases  (Tsuru  no  mono)  are  also 
to  be  avoided. 


24  Japonica. 

Each  household  in  Japan  has  generally  two  shrines — one  to 
the  Kami,  or  household  gods  of  the  old  Shinto  cult,  and  the 
other  to  the  Hotoke,  or  spirits  of  deceased  relatives,  which  is 
Buddhist.  For  arrangements  of  flowers  before  the  Kami  a  full 
and  powerful  composition  is  required.  All  ugly  flowers,  those  of 
strong  odor,  or  those  having  thorns,  are  prohibited.  A  special 
branch,  called  Kao  muke  no  eda,  or  facing  branch,  must  be  used 
behind  the  Shin  or  central  line  ;  and  before  a  Buddhist  shrine  a 
full  and  crowded  composition  must  be  employed  and  the  Tamuke 
no  eda  introduced. 

It  is  part  of  this  delicate  art  to  prescribe  the  way  in  which  the 
lovely  arrangements  should  be  admired  and  praised.  Seriously 
impolite  would  it  be  to  look  at  the  flowers  with  a  fan  in  the 
hand,  or  to  peer  behind  the  branches  of  the  composition ;  and 
you  must  express  delight  softly,  as  befits  the  gentle  company  of 
the  blossoms,  and  with  appropriate  epithets.  Be  pleased  to  call 
white  flowers,  Kiasha,  "  elegant ;  "  blue  flowers,  miyoto,  "  fine  ;  " 
red  are  utsukusldi  ;  yellow,  Kekko,  i.e.,  "  charming  "  and  "  splen- 
did ;  "  and  purple  blossoms  may  justly  be  styled  Kusumit,  "  mod- 
est." It  is  a  great  compliment  when  a  guest,  who  is  known  to 
be  more  or  less  an  adept  in  the  beautiful  science,  finds  himself 
invited  by  the  host  to  make  an  extemporary  arrangement  of  flow- 
ers and  sprays.  The  master  of  the  house  provides  the  vase, 
the  water,  the  tray  of  cut  blooms  and  branchlets,  the  scissors, 
knife,  hempen  cloth,  and  little  saw ;  altogether  called  Hana  Ku- 
bari.  Should  the  host  produce  a  very  rare  and  valuable  vessel 
for  the  flower  arrangement,  it  is  polite  for  the  guest  invited  to 
make  the  floral  arrangement  to  show  diffidence,  declining  to  use 
so  precious  an  article  on  the  plea  of  want  of  sufficient  skill.  If 
pressed,  however,  he  must  attempt  a  simple  and  unassuming  com- 
position. When  the  arrangement  is  completed  the  host  and 
any  other  visitors  present,  who  have  meanwhile  remained  in  the 
adjoining  room,  approach  in  turn  the  Toko  no  ma,  salute  and  in- 


Japan — The  Country. 


25 


spect  in  the  manner  previously  described.  The  scissors  are  left 
near  to  the  flower  arrangement  as  a  silent  and  modest  request  to 
correct  faults.  The  designer  turns  to  the  host,  apologizes  for 
the  imperfections,  and  begs  that  the  whole  may  be  removed ; 
the  host  refuses,  saying  that  the  result  is  everything  that  could 
be  desired.  At  such  flower-gatherings  it  is  particularly  recom- 
mended that  visitors  should  not  attempt  bold  and  ambitious  de- 
signs. Below  is  a  result  such  as  a  modest  connoisseur  on  such 
an  occasion  would  produce  with  pine,  plum-sprays,  and  the  bam- 


Arrangement  of  Pine  Branch  (Matsu) 
and  Plum  Branch  (Ume),  in  Vase  of 
Natural  Bamboo  (Sh8-chiku-bai). 


Defective  Arrangement  of 
Iris  (Hana  shobu). 


Altered  and   Correct  Arrange- 
ment of  Iris  (Hana  shobu). 


boo-holder.  Finally,  I  borrow  from  Mr.  Gender's  invaluable 
pages  the  simplest  example  he  gives  of  the  right  and  wrong 
way  of  arranging  an  iris-root.  If  I  have  allowed  this  fasci- 
nating topic  to  lead  me  into  a  long  digression,  it  is  that  the  An- 
glo-Saxon world  may  modestly  learn  its  utter  and  hopeless 
ignorance  of  the  proper  use  and  disposition  of  flowers  for  festal 
and  aesthetic  occasions.  We  crowd  our  blooms  and  sprays  to- 
gether until  they  are  like  the  faces  of  people  in  the  pit  of  a  thea- 
tre ;  each  lost  in  the  press ;  a  mass,  a  medley,  a  tumultuary 
throng.  The  Japanese  treats  each  gracious  beauty  or  splendor 
of  the  garden  or  of  the  pool  as  an  individual  to  be  honored,  stud- 


26  Japonica. 

led,  and  separately  enjoyed.  Each  suggests,  and  shall  provide 
for  his  eyes  a  special  luxury  of  line,  sufficing  even  with  one 
branch,  one  color,  one  species,  to  glorify  his  apartment  and  make 
the  heart  glad  with  the  wisdom  and  the  grace  of  nature.  An 
arrangement  with  one  leaf  is  attributed  to  the  famous  artist  and 
philosopher,  Rikiu,  who  on  a  certain  occasion  having  observed  a 
fence  covered  with  convolvuli,  gathered  one  flower  and  one  leaf, 
honorably  grouping  them  in  a  vase.  On  being  asked  why  he 
adopted  so  humble  a  design,  he  replied  that  as  it  was  impossible 
to  rival  nature  in  its  magic  of  design,  our  artificial  arrangements 
should  be  as  simple  and  modest  as  possible ;  even  one  leaf  and 
one  flower  were  sufficient,  he  said,  to  call  for  admiration. 

The  forests  and  gardens  of  Japan  have  beguiled  me  into  this 
discursus  about  her  flowers.  But  besides  her  green  mountains, 
her  rice-flats,  and  her  foot-hills,  she  displays  every  variety  of 
landscapes,  many  of  them  of  marvellous  beauty  and  picturesque- 
ness,  though  not  often  grand  and  imposing.  Among  the  scenes 
which  will  linger  in  the  memory  of  every  wanderer  in  southern 
Japan,  must  first,  I  think,  be  mentioned  Nikko,  with  the  great 
"  hills  of  the  Sun "  scattered  round  about  in  a  country  full  of 
lovely  water-falls,  running  streams,  and  bright  Asiatic  moor- 
lands. The  dark  groves  of  ilex  and  pine,  shutting  in  there  the 
splendid  temples,  brilliant  with  scarlet  and  gold  and  black  lac- 
quer ;  and  the  proud  tombs  of  ancient  Shoguns,  might  furnish  an 
artist  with  subjects  for  many  a  noble  canvas.  The  road  thither 
from  Utsunomiya,  which  few  will  now  traverse,  because  a  rail- 
way has  been  completed  thence,  has  the  most  majestic  avenue  of 
giant  trees  to  be  seen  perhaps  in  all  the  world.  They  are  cryp- 
tomerias,  and  rise  to  an  average  height  of  one  hundred  feet,  with 
immense  trunks,  and  dense,  glossy  foliage,  furnishing  for  leagues 
and  leagues  along  the  narrow,  shaded  road  a  stately  gallery  of 
rugged  stems  and  towering  crests,  along  which  the  traveller  pro- 
ceeds in  a  dim  green  light,  as  delicious  as  it  is  solemn,  reminding 


Japan — Tbe  Country. 


27 


him    of   a 
vast  cathedral 
lighted  only 
by  windows  of 
one  cool,  quiet, 
sombre     color. 
Then     very 
charming  indeed 
is  Kamakura, 
with  the  SjSJff?^         great    bronze 

statue  of  the  K>»"*"         Buddha  —  Dai 

iff  ^SHISi^1* 
b  u  t  s  u  —  rising  colossal  over  the 

• 

bamboos,  oak  -  trees,  and     magnolia 

bushes   of    the    sea-bay  which    rolls    in 

by  Misaki  point.     The  verdant  hills  here,  full   of   caves  and 

cherry  orchards  and  temples,  and  the  fertile  plains  which  were 


28  Japonica. 

once  covered  with  cities  and  castles,  and  are  now  back  again 
in  the  charge  of  Nature,  offer  a  lovely  combination  of  Japanese 
wood  and  wold,  animated  by  the  placid,  picturesque  country 
life  of  the  people.  There  are,  also,  mountain-hollows  and  long 
hill-ranges  near  Nagoya,  which,  when  I  saw  them,  at  the  mili- 
tary manoeuvres,  covered  with  the  lilac-blossoms  and  wild  aza- 
leas, seemed  as  fair  and  rich  in  colors  as  the  world  could 
show ;  and  again  between  Kodzu  and  Gotemba,  on  the  Kiyoto- 
Tokio  line  of  railway,  there  lies  a  stretch  of  Tyrol-like  high- 
lands, with  rushing  streams  and  rocky  precipices,  the  beauty  of 
which  must  linger  in  the  mind  of  the  most  travelled.  Yet  there 
are  three  scenes  of  all  the  many  familiar  in  Japan  which  will 
always  come  first,  I  think,  to  my  memory.  One  is  Enoshima ; 
the  next  my  own  delightful  little  garden  at  Azabu,  in  the  heart 
of  the  green  and  busy  capital  of  Tokio ;  and  the  third  the  peer- 
less mountain  Fuji  San,  with  all  that  district  from  which  rises 
her  stately  and  sacred  peak. 

The  island,  or  rather  the  peninsula,  of  beautiful  Enoshima 
somewhat  resembles  Mount  St.  Michael,  on  the  Cornish  coast. 
It  is  the  same  abrupt  and  isolated  crag,  wooded  and  crowned 
with  buildings,  and  separated  from  the  mainland  in  the  same 
manner  by  a  causeway  of  sand,  which  is  only  at  very  high  tides 
covered  by  the  sea.  But  Enoshima,  besides  being  intensely 
Japanese  in  character,  vegetation,  and  surroundings,  looks,  on 
both  sides,  upon  a  lovely  shore,  a  veritable  concha  d'  oro,  stretch- 
ing eastward  along  the  coast  of  Kamakura  and  Misaki,  and  west- 
ward round  the  splendid  sweep  of  Izu.  There,  from  the  Iwam- 
ori  tea-house  is  a  charming  though  distant  view  of  the  Lady  of 
Mountains — Fuji  San — and  many  a  delightful  hour  I  have  passed 
sitting  on  the  mats  of  the  Fuji  San  "  Inn  of  the  Grove  of  the 
Bock  " — learning  to  talk  Japanese,  and  to  admire,  as  they  de- 
serve, the  great  peaks  of  Oyama  and  splendid  shapely  Fuji, 
the  queen  of  all  eminences.  The  sandy  neck,  by  which  you  cross 


. .-  — ,,  - 

'   ,  •  "- 


A  STREET  SCENE,    ENOSHIMA. 

["  Strung  across  the  street  are  little  banners  that  different  societies  and  clubs  give  to  the  inn-keepers  on  passing 
through  the  town.  Every  matsnri  brings  them  out  by  the  hundreds.  The  two  men  coming  down  the  street  are 
pilgrims  belonging  to  some  such  society  or  club,  tramping  to  certain  places,  visiting  the  temples,  etc.,  and  carrying 
a  square  piece  of  matting  slung  loosely  from  their  shoulders.  They  are  dressed  in  rough  white  garments  that  some- 
times are  quite  spotted  with  the  red  seal  imprints  from  different  temples."— ARTIST'S  NOTE.] 


Japan — The  Country. 


31 


from  the  rice-fields  to  the  island,  is  always  lively  with  groups  of 
fishermen  and  market-people,  with  boats  coming  and  going,  and 
seine  nets  being  drawn,  amid  merry  choruses,  to  the  smooth 
brown  flats.  Entering  the  rocky  islet  under  a  stone  torii,  you 
walk  up  a  steep,  picturesque  street — one  of  the  oddest  in  the 


FUJI   SAN.      FROM   GOTEMBA. 


world — lined  on  each  side  with  shops  where  fresh  fish  is  cooked, 
and  others  where  they  sell  all  sorts  of  articles  made  of  coral,  sea- 
shells,  and  various  products  of  the  ocean.  Here  you  may  buy, 
very  cheaply,  the  lovely  and  wonderful  hyalo-nema,  the  rarest  of 
sponges,  with  huge  crabs,  measuring  twelve  feet  between  the 
nippers  ;  and  you  may  dine,  on  the  white  mats,  from  such  a  col- 
lection of  fish  as  would  stock  a  museum.  The  awabi,  better 


32  Japonica. 

known  as  the  haliotis,  or  "  Venus-Ear "  shell,  is  specially  taken 
here  in  great  quantities.  A  strip  of  the  membrane  of  this  is  put 
into  the  folded,  colored  paper  —  noski  —  which  accompanies  all 
Japanese  gifts,  the  mollusk  in  question  being  a  symbol  of  long 
life  and  prosperity,  and  also  representing  the  fish  which  used  to 
accompany  every  formal  present.  "When  you  have  dined,  you 
will  wander  by  many  slopes  and  steps,  to  the  temple  of  the  god- 
dess Benten  —  for  at  the  back  of  the  island  is  a  cave,  formerly 
inhabited  by  dragons,  who  devoured  the  little  children  of  the 
neighboring  coast.  But,  if  legends  are  true,  there  appeared  in  a 
storm  one  night,  two  thousand  years  ago,  a  beautiful  lady  of 
divine  form,  who  brought  the  island  along  with  her,  and,  setting 
it  up  in  its  place,  drove  away  the  dragons  and  established  her 
own  worship  on  the  fair  rock,  as  Goddess  of  Beauty  and  of 
Mercy.  If  you  should  hesitate  to  believe  the  tradition,  close  at 
hand,  in  the  cemetery  of  Koshigoye  village,  stands  the  tomb  of 
the  rich  man  who  lost  all  his  sixteen  children  by  the  dragons. 
No  less  than  three  times  Benten  has  been  seen,  riding  on  the 
dreadful  creatures  which  she  subdued  for  the  sake  of  her  Jap- 
anese people.  On  one  occasion  she  was  heard  to  say,  "  All  the 
world  is  mine,  and  shall  belong  to  beauty  and  love  !  All  its  be- 
ings are  my  offspring !  Now  it  is  an  evil  place,  but  I  will  make 
all  dwell  securely  and  happily  in  it."  It  is  related  that  one  of 
the  ancestors  of  the  Hojo  family,  Tokimasa,  came  to  Enoshirna 
to  pray  for  his  posterity.  After  three  weeks  of  prayer  the  god- 
dess Benten  appeared  to  him,  and  told  him  that  his  merits  were 
remembered  by  her.  Promising  a  blessing,  she  vanished  into 
the  sea,  riding  upon  a  dragon.  Tokimasa  found  on  the  ground 
three  scales  of  the  dragon-goddess,  and,  picking  them  up,  ar- 
ranged them  in  the  form  of  a  crest,  which  trefoil  of  dragon- 
scales  became  the  badge  of  the  Hojo  family.  Benten  is  usually 
pictured  with  a  dragon  near  her.  Her  aspect  is  always  mild  and 
motherly.  She  wears  a  tiara  containing  a  torn.  The  spot  where 


Japan — The  Country. 


33 


the  dragons  dwelt  is  at  the  back  of  Enoshima.  Descending  steep 
steps  you  reach  the  lower  shore,  and  walk  forward  and  round  by 
the  left  to  a  cave.  In  the  cave,  which  may  be  entered  without 
danger  at  low  water,  is  a  shrine  with  the  usual  images,  lights, 
white  paper,  etc.  The  true  and  original  shrine  of  Benten  was 


BENTEN  CAVE,    ENOSHIMA. 


formerly  kept  here,  and  on  a  certain  day  in  the  year  priests  and 
worshippers,  in  a  great  procession,  resort  to  the  cave  to  remove 
the  deity,  air  it,  and  return  it  with  ceremonies.  The  long  pas- 
sage in  the  rock  is  said  to  have  been  made  in  digging  for  gold. 
According  to  tradition  the  cave  was  anciently  the  dwelling-place 
of  two  white  dragons.  What  were  these  fabled  dragons  ?  Not 
large  snakes,  for  the  land  never  produced  them  ;  nor  sharks,  for 
they  do  not  haunt  these  waters.  At  any  rate,  well  is  the  gra- 


34  Japonica. 

cious  and  kindly  Benten  throned  and  adored  on  shining  Eno- 
shima.  If  you  had  seen  no  more  of  Japan  and  her  gentle  peo- 
ple than  that  one  islet,  you  must  like  the  land  and  think  always 
of  it  with  attachment  and  gratitude. 

If  I  name  my  garden  at  Azabu  among  the  scenes  ever  to  be 
remembered  in  Japan,  it  is  because  it  was  typical  of  a  city  resi- 
dence there,  as  well  as  being  really  a  pretty  spot,  and  full  of 
"  things  Japanese."  On  pages  3  and  40  are  pictures  of  the  native 
house  which  stood  in  the  garden,  and  which  we  occupied  for  many 
happy  months.  Provided  with  an  outer  as  well  as  an  inner  range 
of  sliding  shoji,  we  could  make  it  warm  in  the  winter  as  well  as 
cool  in  the  summer,  although  the  outer  glass  (amado)  would  cer- 
tainly rattle  a  great  deal  in  a  stormy  wind  or  an  earthquake,  this 
latter  phenomenon  occurring  pretty  frequently.  A  Japanese  house 
is  really  healthy  as  well  as  comfortable.  Being  built  not  in  the 
soil,  as  with  us,  but  above  it,  and  freely  ventilated  by  the  airiness 
inseparable  from  its  construction,  and  being  entered  only  with 
bare  or  stockinged  feet,  it  is  always  sweet  and  clean.  The  tatami, 
the  mats,  of  such  an  abode  remain  so  free  from  dust  or  dirt  that 
the  delicate  silks  or  muslins  of  their  kimono  are  laid  upon  the 
floor  by  Japanese  ladies  without  the  least  fear  of  soiling  them. 
Cheap  to  build,  beautiful  in  appearance,  spotlessly  pure,  and,  with 
proper  arrangements,  eminently  salubrious,  the  Japanese  domicile 
seems  to  me  entirely  admirable,  and  in  almost  all  its  good  qualities 
rich  and  poor  share  alike.  The  palace  of  the  emperor  and  the  hut 
of  the  Kurumaman  are  practically  on  the  same  plan ;  and  even  in 
the  smallest  tenements  I  have  seen  apartments  so  clean,  so  neat, 
so  bright,  and  so  charming  that  they  might  have  been  boudoirs 
for  the  empress  instead  of  the  back-room  of  a  mat-maker's  or  a 
carpenter's  abode. 

Japanese  servants  are  excellent,  if  you  choose  them  with  dis- 
cretion, and  treat  them  with  the  established  consideration  of  the 
country.  There  is  a  universal  social  compact  in  Japan  to  make 


THE   FLANK-WAT  TO   BENTEN  CAVE— ENOSHIMA,   JAPAN. 


Japan — The  Country.  37 

life  pleasant  by  politeness.  Everybody  is  more  or  less  well-bred, 
and  hates  the  man  or  woman  who  is  yakamashu — noisy,  uncivil,  or 
exigent.  People  who  lose  their  temper,  are  always  in  a  hurry, 
bang  doors,  swear,  and  "  swagger,"  find  themselves  out  of  place 
in  a  land  where  the  lowest  coolie  learns  and  practices  an  ancient 
courtesy,  from  the  time  when  he  wobbles  about  as  a  baby  upon 
his  mother's  back. 

Therefore,  to  be  treated  well  in  Japan,  as  perhaps  indeed 
elsewhere,  you  must  treat  everybody,  including  your  domestics, 
well ;  and  then  you  will  enjoy  the  most  pleasant  and  willing  ser- 
vice. Your  cook  will  doubtless  cheat  you  a  little ;  your  jinrick- 
ishaman  will  now  and  then  take  too  much  sake,  the  musmees  and 
the  boy's  wife  will  gossip  all  over  the  place  about  everything 
you  do ;  and  the  gardener  and  the  coachman  will  fight  cocks  in 
the  yard  when  your  back  is  turned ;  but  if  conscious  of  your  own, 
you  can  forgive  the  little  sins  of  others.  You  can  hardly  fail  to 
become  closely  attached  to  the  quiet,  soft-voiced,  pleasant  people, 
who,  as  soon  as  they  have  learned  your  ways,  will  take  real  pleasure 
in  making  life  agreeable  to  you.  A  present,  now  and  then,  of  a 
kimono  to  the  maids,  of  toys  and  sweetmeats  to  the  children ;  a 
day's  holiday  now  and  then  granted  to  the  theatre  or  the  wrestling 
match,  are  richly  rewarded  by  such  bright  faces  and  unmistakable 
warmth  of  welcome  on  arriving,  and  of  good  speed  on  going,  as 
repay  you  tenfold.  Respectful  as  Japanese  servants  are— and 
they  never  speak  except  on  their  knees  and  faces — they  like  to 
be  taken  into  the  family  conversation,  and  to  sit  sometimes  in 
friendly  abandon  with  the  master  and  mistress,  admiring  dresses, 
pictures  or  Western  novelties,  and  listening  sometimes  to  the 
samisen  and  koto,  as  children  of  the  household. 

Tokio  is  a  vast  city  with  a  million  and  a  quarter  inhabitants, 
the  greater  part  of  it  built  on  a  plain,  but  full  of  hills  and  hollows 
covered  with  pine  and  bamboo.  You  may  therefore  live  in  the 
city  and  yet  have  green  gardens  and  verdant  scenery  all  around 


38 


japonica. 


you,  which  was  our  happy  case  at  Azabu.     The  house  was  planted 
upon  a  little  hill,  looking  over  crowded  bazaars  of  wooden  huts 


JAPANESE  WRESTLING  MATCH. 


to  many  other  like  leafy  hills  ; 

and  in  the  absence  of  smoke,  due  to 

the  cleanly  charcoal  hibachi,  trees  and  flowers  flourished,  birds 

built  their  nests,  and  Nature  might  be  studied  almost  as  well  there 

as  in  the  woods  and  mountains.     In  the  morning  a  colony  of  great 


Japan — The  Country.  39 

black  crows,  and  screaming  kites,  woke  us  from  our  slumber.  All 
day  long  the  painted  thrushes,  the  starlings,  tits,  chaffinches,  and 
wagtails,  the  latter  a  most  important  bird  in  Japanese  mythology, 
together  with  the  ubiquitous  sparrows,  played  on  the  lawn  or  in 
the  bamboos;  at  evening  the  storks  and  bitterns  flew  in  long 
clamorous  lines  from  the  seashore  to  the  hills.  The  art  of  the 
Japanese  gardener  had  turned  our  little  plot  of  a  couple  of  acres 
into  the  appearance  of  a  large  and  various  pleasaunce,  with  min- 
iature hills — from  which  you  could  see  the  towering  snows  of 
Fuji  San  —  fish-ponds,  rock-works,  trellised  arbors,  and  clumps 
of  flowers  and  bushes,  which  gave  us  an  unbroken  succession  of 
floral  wealth. 

Scattered  about  the  grounds  were  stone  lamps  called  laid 
doro,  and  grotesque  demons,  amidst  quaint  water  -  cisterns  in 
stone  with  Chinese  inscriptions.  Around  these  first  came  into 
bloom,  defying  snow  and  frost,  the  beautiful  red  and  white  and 
striped  camellias.  When  those  had  fallen  the  white  and  pink  and 
rose-red  plum  flowers  filled  the  eye  with  beauty.  Afterward  the 
azaleas  blazed,  like  burning  bushes,  all  round  the  lotus  pond ;  and 
these  were  followed  by  a  delicious  outburst  of  pale,  rose-tinted 
cherry-blossoms,  making  an  avenue  of  beauty  and  glory  all  the 
way  from  the  Shinto  temple  at  our  gate  to  the  front  door,  where 
were  suspended  the  little,  indispensable,  but  useless  fire-engine, 
and  the  bronze  gong  on  which  visitors  beat  with  a  little  wooden 
hammer  to  announce  their  arrival.  The  wistaria  and  a  second 
crop  of  camellias,  and  then  some  red  and  yellow  roses  took  up  the 
running,  until  the  maple  bushes  came  out  resplendent  with  blood- 
red  leaves  ;  after  which  there  were  purple  irises  and  callas  flower- 
ing by  the  fish-pond,  with  orange  and  red  lilies  brighter  than  the 
gold-fish  swimming  in  it,  and  the  lawn  became  covered  with  a 
.pretty  little  flower  called  the  Neji-bana,  the  pink  buds  of  which, 
growing  diagonally  and  reaching  round  to  get  the  sunlight,  twist- 
ed the  stem  into  the  shape  of  a  corkscrew.  Thus  along  with  the 


40 


Japonica. 


sprays  of  the  firs  and  loquats  and  ornamental  shrubs,  our  gar- 
dener— whom  we  christened  the  "  Ace  of  Spades,"  out  of  "  Alice 
through  the  Looking-glass,"  and  who  wore  a  blue  coat  with  white 
dragons  upon  it  —  was  never  destitute  of  delightful  material 
wherewith  to  exercise  the  high  art,  previously  described,  of  dec- 
orating our  rooms  after  the  great  sBsthetic  Enshin  fashion. 


II. 

JAPANESE    PEOPLE 


[TiiE  AMEYA. — "  Very  interesting  things  they  do  certainly  perform,  and  in  a  most 
simple  manner,  using  the  candy  like  a  glass-blower  his  lump  of  molten  glass,  and 
producing  results,  if  hardly  as  beautiful  or  durable,  certainly  as  artistic  and  finished  as 
regards  workmanship." — ARTIST'S  NOTE.] 


"Sukoshi  O  aruki  irrashai  !  v  "Condescend  to  take  a  little 
honorable  walk  "  in  Tokio.  "We  will  pass  together — unknown  but 
respected  reader — from  the  house  at  Azabu,  down  its  avenue  of 
cherry-trees,  leading  to  the  Shinto  temple  opposite  our  gate. 
The  sliding  glass-doors  of  the  porch  are  swiftly  thrust  back  by 
Mano,  the  "  boy,"  and  O  Tori  San,  plumpest  and  best-tempered 
of  waiting-maids,  both  prostrating  themselves  on  hands  and 
knees  to  utter  the  Sayonara  as  we  depart.  The  temple  at  the 
gate  has  pretty  timbered  grounds  filled  with  children  at  play  and 
women  gossiping  in  the  sun,  their  babies  tied  on  their  backs  in  a 
fold  of  the  HaorL  That  is  where  all  babies  live  in  Japan.  If 
the  mothers  are  busy  in-doors,  the  infant  is  strapped  on  the  back 
of  an  older  sister  or  brother ;  sometimes,  indeed,  very  slightly 
older.  We  shall  see  hundreds  of  children  not  more  than  five  or 
six  years  of  age  carrying,  fast  asleep,  on  their  small  shoulders 
the  baby  of  the  household ;  its  tiny,  smooth,  brown  head  swing- 
ing hither  and  thither  with  every  movement  of  its  small  nurse  ; 
who  walks,  runs,  sits,  and  jumps ;  flies  kites,  plays  hop-scotch, 
and  fishes  for  frogs  in  the  gutter,  totally  oblivious  of  that  infan- 
tile charge,  whether  sleeping  or  waking.  If  no  young  brother  or 
sister  be  available,  the  husband,  the  uncle,  the  father,  or  grand- 
father hitch  on  their  backs  the  baby,  who  is,  happily,  from  his 


44 


Japonica. 


birth,  preternaturally  good  and  contented.  The  doctrine  of  orig- 
inal sin  really  seems  absolutely  confuted  by  the  admirable  behav- 
ior of  Japanese  chil- 
dren ;  they  never  seem 
to  do  any  mischief ; 
possibly  because  there 
is  not  much  mischief 
to  do.  In  the  houses 
nothing  of  any  value 
exists  for  them  to 
break,  there  is  noth- 
ing they  will  perpet- 
ually be  told  "not  to 
touch."  The  streets, 
almost  entirely,  belong 
to  them;  and 
yet,  although 
they  may  do  al- 
most anything 
there,  they  nev- 
er seem  to  do  anything 
wrong.  Observe  upon 
thing  the  whole  char- 
of  a  city  may  depend, 
tically  no  horse  traffic 
very  few  pony  drags 
and  tram-cars  run  in 
oughf'ares  as  the  Ginza 
bashi,  while  now  and 


how  little  a 
acter  of  the  life 
There  is  prac- 
in  T  o  k  i  o  ;  a 
are  to  be  seen, 
such  main  thor- 


1  IT8  TINY   HEAD  SWINGING 
HITHER  AND  THITHER." 


and  the  Nihom 

then  you  will  meet  a  Japanese  officer  riding  on  horseback, 
with  a  betto  running  at  his  saddle-flap,  to  or  from  the  bar- 
racks. But  these  are  exceptions  ;  and,  consequently,  the  Kuru- 
ma-men  can  trot  in  safety  round  every  corner,  and  the  children 


'  THAT  IS  WHERE  ALL  BABIES  LIVE  IN  JAPAN. 


Japanese  People.  47 

disport  themselves  in  the  middle  of  every  street  without  causing 
the  slightest  maternal  anxiety.  They  are  as  charming  to  see, 
these  small  Japanese,  in  their  dignified  wide  sleeves  and  flowing 
Kimono,  as  they  are  gentle  and  demure  in  manners ;  with  beauti- 
ful feet  and  hands,  and  bead-like  black  eyes,  which  stare  at  you 
without  fear  or  shyness.  Everybody  is  friendly  to  them  ;  every 
fifth  shop  is  full  of  toys  and  dolls,  and  sweet-stuff  of  strange 
device,  ingredients,  and  color,  for  their  delectation.  Their  inno- 
cent ways  and  merry  chatter  render  every  quarter  pleasant.  It 
must  be  confessed,  with  regard  to  their  flat  little  noses,  that  a 
want  of  pocket-handkerchiefs  is  distinctly  observable,  and  that 
too  many  suffer  from  eczema  and  other  of  the  simple  skin  dis- 
eases. But  the  fact  is,  Japanese  mothers  look  upon  this  cutaneous 
eruption  as  rather  a  healthy  sign  for  the  future,  and  never  attempt 
to  cure  it.  It  stops  when  shaving  ceases,  for  children  are  shaved 
on  the  seventh  day  after  birth,  only  a  tuft  being  left  on  the  nape 
of  the  neck.  When  the  child  goes  to  school  they  suffer  its  hair 
to  grow.  The  infants  are  not  weaned  till  they  are  two  or  three 
years  old ;  and  you  will  often  see  the  small  Japanese  citizens 
leave  their  kites  or  jack-stones  and  run  across  the  road  to  the 
maternal  bosom.  The  consequences  are — few  children  in  the 
family ;  and  the  swift  ageing  of  the  mother.  The  children  have 
their  special  festivals.  The  third  of  March  is  the  yearly  holiday 
for  all  the  little  girls,  when  everybody  buys  for  them  O  hina 
Sama,  miniature  models  of  everything  domestic,  including  the 
entire  furniture  of  the  Japanese  court ;  and  the  little  maidens  are 
dressed  in  the  best  that  the  household  can  afford,  fluttering 
proudly  about  the  town  like  butterflies  or  humming-birds.  But, 
as  compared  with  boys,  girls  are  here  at  a  sad  discount.  The 
great  day  of  the  boys,  which  falls  on  the  fifth  of  May,  is  far  more 
important.  Then,  from  the  door  of  every  abode  which  has  had 
boys  born  during  the  past  seven  years,  rises  a  tall  bamboo  pole, 
at  the  top  of  which  float,  distended  by  the  wind,  gigantic  paper 


48  Japonica. 

fish  of  all  colors,  but  principally  dark  purple  and  gold — one  for 
every  son.  These  represent  the  Koe,  a  kind  of  carp,  which  is 
chosen  for  a  symbol  because  that  particular  fish  swims  very 
stoutly  against  streams,  and  even  up  rapids  and  cascades,  to  the 
higher  waters.  In  like  manner  it  is  implied  the  boys  must  be 
diligent  and  indomitable,  stemming  with  gallantry  the  stream  of 
life.  A  less  pleasant  explanation  was  given  me  by  a  Japanese 
father.  He  said  it  was  the  custom  formerly,  at  certain  feasts,  to 
crimp  the  live  Koe,  and  to  place  it,  to  be  eaten  raw,  before  the 
guests,  the  fish  never  moving  under  this  cruel  treatment,  and 
only  giving  one  last  jump  when  the  hot  wasabi  was  squeezed 
upon  his  eyes.  In  like  manner,  the  Japanese  boy,  my  informant 
said,  was  expected  to  endure  all  things  patiently,  and  to  prefer 
the  most  bitter  death  to  loss  of  self-respect. 

"We  turn  the  corner  and  traverse  a  bye-street  full  of  humble 
shops,  the  principal  one  being  undoubtedly  that  where  sake  is  sold. 
Good  sake  is  excellent  to  drink,  and  imbibed  hot,  in  the  delicate, 
pretty  porcelain  cup  that  belongs  to  it,  goes  admirably  well  with 

Japanese  cookery.  This 
establishment  is  marked 
by  the  usual  sign,  a  branch 
of  cryptomeria  fir,  but  may 
be  instantly  known  by  the 
wooden  tubs  of  the  liquor, 
painted  gorgeously  with 
characters  and  pictures,  the 
superior  qualities  bearing 
the  hanazakari,  or  "  flower 

"  WHERE  SAKE  IS  SOLD." 

in  full  bloom."    Then  there 

is  the  "  red  carp  " — the  Chinese  character  dai,  or  the  Muso-ichi, 
which  means  "  second  to  none,"  and  a  great  peony,  which  brand 
marks  the  San  tokushu,  or  Sake  of  the  three  virtues.  Next  we 
see  the  joiner's  shop,  where  they  sell  those  boxes  and  bureaus, 


Japanese  People.  49 

and  liibacM,  which  are  made  so  cunningly  and  so  cheaply ;  also 
the  shop  for  wooden  clogs  and  rope  sandals  ;  another  for  lamps ; 
another  for  teapots  and  crockery;  another  for  rice  and  meal, 


"  TEAPOTS    AND   CROCKERY." 


where  the  propri- 
etor, stark  naked,  be- 
hind a  decorous  screen 
of   string,    pestles    the 
paddy  with  a  prodigious 
hammer,  himself  bathed 
in  sweat.     Flower-shops, 

tin -shops,  bean-cake,  and  Buddha-shrine  shops  succeed,  with, 
near  at  hand,  the  fish  store  of  the  neighborhood — not  too  sweet- 
ly savored  in  the  hot  weather — where  you  see  gigantic  cockles 
and  enormous  blue  and  yellow  shrimps,  with  octupuses  fresh  and 
dried,  slabs  of  tunny,  looking  like  dried  wood ;  split  and  smoked 
salmon,  sea-slugs,  (iriko)  calamaries,  and  sea-weed,  along  with  all 
sorts  of  fresh  live  fish,  from  the  ever-spread  nets  in  the  Japanese 
gulfs  and  rivers.  With  these  are  to  be  noticed  little  fish,  like 


50 


Japonica. 


sardines,  threaded  on  bamboo  splinters,  enormous  awabi,  and 
prodigious  whelks,  as  well  as  tubs  full  of  oysters  taken  from  the 
shell.  Fish,  next  to  rice,  is  the  staple  article  of  Japanese  diet ; 
and,  there  is  here  indeed,  an  effect  of  Buddhism,  which  was  al- 
ways more  indulgent  to  the  fish-eater  than  to  the  flesh-eater. 
Yery  little  meat  at  all  is  eaten  by  the  Japanese,  and  there  is  a 

silent,  but  strong  public 
prejudice  against  it. 
You  may  see  over  an 
eating  -  house  the  an- 
nouncement of  venison 
for  sale  under  the  name 
of  "  Mountain  "Whale  " 
(Yama  Kujira).  It  is 
felt  to  be  more  respecta- 
ble to  eat  it  under  that 
appellation. 

Next  comes  the  bath-house.  If  you  do  not  recognize  ihefuro- 
do  by  the  Chinese  or  lura-gana  characters  stamped  on  the  blue 
curtains  fluttering  outside  its  door,  you  shall  know  it  by  the  boys 
and  men  emerging  from  the  "honorable  hot  water"  with  hands 
and  feet  bright  red,  by  reason  of  the  parboiling  which  they  have 
just  undergone ;  or  by  the  women  with  wet  hair  brushed  back 
from  their  foreheads,  and  tied  up  at  the  end  in  a  triangular  piece 
of  paper.  When  these  latter  get  home  O  Kami  San,  the  coiffeuse, 
will  come  and  dress  their  moist  black  tresses  for  the  next  two  or 
three  days,  in  one  of  the  many  modes  prescribed  by  fashion. 
There  is  the  mage  for  married  women  where  the  hair  is  drawn 
over  a  pad,  in  a  solid  shining,  single  boss  ;  and  there  are  other 
elaborate  styles  for  unmarried  damsels,  musumes,  girls,  and  gei- 
shas, not  to  be  achieved  without  much  appliance  of  camellia-oil, 
gold  and  silver  strings,  and  Kanzashi — the  carved  and  tinselled 
hair-pins.  Inside  the  bath  -house  are  to  be  seen  tubs,  tanks,  and 


A  SHOP  FOR  LAMPS. 


Japanese  Teople. 


51 


a  sloping  wooden  floor,  the  spaces  for  males  and  females  being 
divided,  if  at  all,  by  a  mere  lattice  as  often  as  by  any  solid  par- 
tition. The  Japanese  are  not  in  the  least  ashamed  of  the  body, 

the   "city  of  nine 
gates,"  which  the 
soul  temporarily 
inhabits.    In 
summer-time 
|       there    is   not 
much  of  any- 
body  con- 
cealed, 
especial- 
ly in 


the 

country 
villages, 
where  the  po- 


nce 


par-  "  WHERE   THE   PROPRIETOR,    STARK   NAKED,    PESTLES   THE   PADDY." 


ticular,  as  some- 

times they  show  themselves  in  the  towns.  This  frank  expos- 
ure goes  with  the  most  perfect  modesty,  and  indeed  leads  to  it. 
He  would  be  considered  a  very  ill-bred  person  who  gazed  with 
eyes  of  too  much  curiosity  at  what  the  bath-house,  or  the  toilet 


52  Japonica. 

in  the  shop-front,  or  the  maternal  duties  attended  to  upon  the  pave- 
ment should  casually  reveal.  Morality  rather  gains,  and  sentiment 
decidedly  loses  by  this  candor  of  Japanese  manners  as  regards 
nudity  ;  for  110  one  looks  at  what  all  the  world  may  see,  and  it  is 
the  veil  wrhich  makes  the  sanctum.  Meanwhile,  mark  well  how 
the  people  frequent  the  furo-do  ;  they  are  the  greatest  lovers  of 
"the  tub"  in  the  world,  and  indubitably  the  cleanliest  of  all  known 
people.  A  Japanese  crowd  has  no  odor  whatever,  and  jourjin- 
rikisha-w&n.  perspires  profusely  without  the  smallest  offence  to 
the  nicest  sense  of  his  fare  close  behind.  True,  they  wear  no 
underlinen,  and  put  on  the  same  kimono,  fundoshi.  ondjuban  after 
the  bath  ;  but  these  articles  of  clothing  are  also  constantly  being 
washed.  Note,  too,  how  well-kept  are  all  their  hands  and  feet ; 
how  perfectly  well  formed  they  are,  and  how  natural.  The 
wooden  geta  and  ivarcyi  of  rope  make,  indeed,  the  sides  and  palms 
of  their  feet  callous,  and  the  string  of  velvet  or  grass  which  holds 
those  on  forces  the  great  toe  to  grow  apart  from  the  others.  But 
almost  every  foot,  male  and  female,  is  comely  to  see ;  not  like 
the  sadly  distorted  extremities  so  often  witnessed  in  Western 
men  and  women,  the  result  of  tight  and  pointed  boots  and  shoes. 
Especially  are  the  hands  of  Japanese  women  almost  always  good, 
and  sometimes,  absolutely  charming.  Theophile  Gautier  would 
have  rejoiced  to  study  these  soft,  symmetrical,  brown  little  palms, 
and  neat,  close,  roseate  finger-tips,  and  delicate,  supple  wrists  ;  he 
who  wrote :  "  Ce  que  f  adore  le  plus,  entre  toutes  les  choses  du 
monde,  c'est  une  belle  main  !  Comme  elle  est  d'une  blancheur  vi- 
vace !  Quelle  mollesse  de  peau  !  Comme  le  bout  des  doigts  est 
admirablement  effile !  Quel  poli,  et  quel  eclat !  On  dirait  des 
feuilles  inter ieures  d'une  rose  !  Et  puis,  quelle  grace,  quel  art  dans 
les  moindres  mouvements  !  Comme  le  petit  cloigt  se  replie  gra- 
cieusement,  et  se  tient  un  pen  ecarte  de  ses  grandes  sceurs  !  Je 
ferine  mes  yeux  pour  ne  plus  la  voir,  mais  du  bout  de  ses  doigts 
delicats,  elle  me  prend  les  cils,  et  m'ouvre  les  paupieres,  et  fait  pas- 


Japanese  People. 


53 


ser  devant  moi  mille  visions  d'ivoire  et  de  neige"  *  You  would 
not  understand  one  word  of  this  exquisite  French,  0  Tatsu  San  ! 
or  0  Hana  San  !  and  your  small  hands  are  certainly  not  "  vividly 
white,"  nor  could  they  exactly  recall  "snow  and  ivory  ; "  but  fair 
and  shapely,  and  full  of 
tender  lines  and  loveli- 
ness they  are,  for  all  that ; 
and  the  artist  is  yet  to 
come  who  shall  do  full 
justice  to  the  flat  and 
archless,  but  delight- 
ful little  foot,  and  the 
brown  and  glove- 
less,  but  exquisite 
little  hand,  of 
the  average 
Japanese  wom- 
an of  the  mid- 
dle class  as 
she  emerges, 
dewy  and 
blooming,  from 
the  bath-house. 
Therp  are 
eight  or  nine 
hundred  public 
baths  in  the 

city  of  Tokio,  where  three  hundred  thousand  persons  bathe  daily 
at  a  charge  of  one  sen  three  rin  (about  a  cent)  per  head,  and  three 
rin  (less  than  a  farthing)  for  children.  The  poorest  may  therefore 
bathe,  and  always  do ;  so  that,  lately,  in  the  time  of  dear  rice, 
when  money  was  given  to  our  poor,  a  tenth  part  was  allotted 

*  From  ''Mile,  de  Maupin." 


'O  TATSU   SAN." 


Japonica. 


"EVERT  GOOD  HOUSE  POSSESSES  ITS  OWN 
FUBO-DO.' 


to  bathing-tickets.  Besides  the  public  bathing  establishments 
every  good  house  also  possesses  its  own  furo-do ;  and  the  first 
question  of  your  servant  on  awakening  you  is,  "  0  yu  ni  irra- 

sliaimas  ka  ?  "  "  Do  you  con- 
descend into  the  honorable 
hot  water  ? "  Truly  Japan 
does  take  her  daily  bath  very 
hot !  The  people  think  noth- 
ing of  110°  Fahr.,  though,  it 
must  be  understood,  they  do 
not  stay  very  long  in  this 
heated  water.  Most  of  all, 
they  enjoy  and  largely  pat- 
ronize the  innumerable  hot 
springs  welling  up  all  over  this  volcanic  land.  Everywhere  these 
are  caught  with  pipes  and  pressed  into  service  for  pleasure  or  hy- 
gienic use ;  and  as,  for  instance,  those  at  Kosatsu,  are  so  highly 
esteemed  for  all  fleshly  ills  that  the  proverb  runs  :  "  Here  every- 
thing can  be  cured  except  love!"  Walking  from  Hakone  to 
Miyauoshita  on  the  mountains  surrounding  Fuji  San,  it  was 
amusing  to  observe,  at  the  place  called  Ashi-no-yu,  where  sul- 
phur springs  are  caught  and  let  into  many  bath-houses,  how 
all  of  us  together — coolies,  pedestrians,  chair-carriers,  etc. — has- 
tened to  jump  into  the  strong-smelling,  but  soft  and  refreshing, 
waters,  and  emerged  with  the  look  and  feeling  of  men  who  had 
feasted  satisfactorily,  albeit  with  the  odor  of  a  box  of  bad  lucifer 
matches. 

Nearly  opposite  the  bath-house,  behind  the  flower-shop  full 
of  lotuses  and  lilies,  and  between  a  tea-garden  and  a  bamboo 
grove,  you  see  the  graveyard  of  our  quarter.  It  is  crowded  with 
four-sided,  upright  headstones,  some  bearing  the  figure  of  Jizo 
Sama,  with  a  glory  round  his  head  and  a  bell  in  his  left  hand. 
He  is  the  genius  of  travellers,  including  those  who  make  the 


THE  FLOWEK-PEDLER8. 


Japanese  People.  57 

great  journey.  The  graves  are  near  together,  because,  for  the 
most  part,  only  the  ashes  of  deceased  persons  have  been  here  in- 
terred, and  these  naturally  pack  close.  The  inscriptions  on  the 
stones  will  not  give  the  dead  man's  or  woman's  name,  but  only 
the  Kaimio,  or  posthumous  title  conferred  by  the  priests  after 
demise.  These  are  very  often  highly  fanciful  and  poetical.  But 
it  would  be  strange  to  Western  ideas  to  come  to  look  on  the 
tomb  of  one  beloved,  and  to  find  engraved,  instead  of  the  old,  fa- 
miliar appellation,  that  of  "here  lies,"  "the  purple-cloud-and- 
heavenly-music-believing  woman."  A  little  cup  is  hollowed  at 
the  foot  of  the  stone  to  hold  water,  if  the  spirit  should  wish  to 
drink,  and  on  each  side  stands  a  bamboo-joint  with  sprigs  of  the 
Shikimi,  the  evergreen  anise  (t'Uicutii  reUgiosum).  Round  a  new 
grave  thin  laths  of  wood,  called  Lotoba,  are  placed,  bearing  Chi- 
nese and  Sanskrit  legends  ;  one  being  planted  every  seventh  day, 
until  there  are  eight  standing  round.  The  sacred  verses  on 
them,  coupled  with  the  name  of  the  dead,  are  thought  to  help 
him  into  heaven.  Those  who  can  afford  it  put  also  a  memorial 
tablet  in  their  temple,  and  another  on  the  Butsu-dan,  the  family 
altar-shelf  at  home.  When  buried,  and  not  burnt,  the  body  is 
placed  cross-legged  in  a  coffin,  with  sandals  on  its  feet,  and  a 
stick  in  the  right  hand,  while  in  the  left  are  laid  six  rin,  where- 
with to  pay  toll  at  the  six  cross-roads  which  you  reach  before 
coming  to  the  other  world.  The  distance  thither  is  3,600,000,- 
000  ri ;  nevertheless,  the  spirit  comes  back  every  year  on  the 
night  of  July  15th,  which  is  the  Japanese  jour  des  marts.  On 
that  night  fires  are  lighted  before  the  doors  of  those  who  have 
lost  their  friends,  and  lanterns  are  suspended  in  the  sJioji  to 
guide  them  home  at  this  date.  It  is  a  pretty  fancy  that  a  but- 
terfly entering  the  house  is  a  soul  come  back  upon  a  brief  visit. 

Sometimes,  but  most  generally  in  the  rural  districts,  you  will 
see  the  Nagare  Kanjo  in  or  near  a  graveyard — the  "  Debt  of  the 
Running  Water."  An  oblong  cloth  is  attached  by  its  four  cor- 


5s  Japonica. 

ners  to  four  rods  stuck  in  the  ground,  so  as  to  hold  it  near  a 
little  rivulet  that  runs  from  a  bubbling  spring  on  the  hill-side. 
By  the  spring  there  will  lie  a  small  dipper.  Stay  a  little,  how- 
ever hurried,  and  pour  one  or  two  ladlefuls  full  of  water  into 
that  suspended  cloth  "of  your  charity;"  for  the  Nagare  Kanjo 
marks  a  gentle  Japanese  mother's  soul  in  purgatory.  Behind  it 
rises  a  lath,  notched  several  times  near  the  top,  and  inscribed 
with  a  brief  legend.  Upon  the  four  corners  in  the  upright  bam- 
boo may  be  set  bouquets  of  flowers.  The  tall  lath  tablet  is  the 
same  as  that  placed  behind  graves.  On  the  cloth  is  written  a 
name  and  a  prayer.  Waiting  long  enough,  perchance  but  a  few 
minutes,  there  will  be  seen  a  passer-by,  who  pauses,  and  offering 
a  prayer  with  the  aid  of  his  rosary,  reverently  dips  a  ladleful  of 
water,  pours  it  upon  the  cloth,  and  waits  patiently  until  it  has 
strained  through,  before  moving  on.  He  has  read  the  story  of 
sorrow  at  the  brink  of  joy,  of  the  mother  dying  that  her  babe 
may  live.  He  is  touched,  as  you  must  be,  by  the  appeal  of  the 
Nagare  Kanjo,  made  in  the  name  of  mother-love  and  mother- 
woe  ;  for  the  inscription  implores  every  passer-by,  for  the  love  of 
Heaven,  to  shorten  the  penalties  of  a  soul  in  pain.  "  The  Jap- 
anese "  (Buddhists),  says  the  author  of  "  The  Mikado's  Empire," 
"  believe  that  all  calamity  is  the  result  of  sin,  either  in  this  or  a 
previous  state  of  existence.  The  mother  who  dies  in  childbed 
suffers,  by  such  a  death,  for  some  awful  transgression,  it  may  be, 
in  a  cycle  of  existence  long  since  passed,  for  she  must  leave  her 
new-born  infant  and  sink  into  the  darkness  of  Hades.  There 
must  she  suffer  and  groan  until  the  flowing  invocation  ceases, 
by  the  wearing  out  of  the  symbolic  cloth.  When  this  is  so 
utterly  worn  that  the  water  no  longer  drains,  but  falls  through 
at  once,  the  freed  spirit  of  the  mother  rises  to  a  higher  cycle  of 
existence.  Devout  men  as  they  pass  by  reverently  pour  a  ladle- 
ful of  water.  Women,  especially  those  who  have  felt  mother- 
pains,  repeat  the  expiatory  act  with  deeper  feeling." 


Japanese  People.  59 

The  cotton  cloth,  inscribed  with  the  prayer  and  the  name  of 
the  deceased,  to  be  efficacious,  can  be  purchased  only  at  temples. 
I  have  been  told  that  rich  people  are  able  to  secure  one  that, 
when  stretched  but  a  few  days,  will  rapture.  The  poor  man 
can  only  get  the  stoutest  and  most  closely  woven  fabric.  The 
limit  of  purgatorial  penance  is  thus  fixed  by  warp  and  woof,  and 
warp  and  woof  are  gauged  by  money.  The  rich  man's  napkin  is 
scraped  thin  in  the  middle.  But  the  poor  mother  secures  a 
richer  tribute  of  sympathy  from  humble  people. 

From  many  a  house  as  we  pass,  especially  at  evening,  is  heard 
the  tinkling  samisen,  or  the  thrum  of  the  stronger-voiced  koto. 
Every  house  seems  to  contain  a  samisen,  the  three-stringed 
guitar  of  Japan,  having  a  long,  black  neck,  unprovided  with  frets, 
and  a  square  sounding  body  covered  by  stretched  cat  -  skin. 
Every  Japanese  woman  appears  to  know  how  to  play  it,  with 
more  or  less  skill,  and,  indeed,  to  do  this  is  part  of  every  girl's 
education;  and  the  most  important  part,  indeed,  of  those  who 
are  to  be  geishas  and  such  like.  It  must  be  a  difficult  instru- 
ment to  learn,  as  there  is  no  printed  notation  for  the  music,  but 
all  is  taught  by  tradition  and  constant  practice,  until  extraordi- 
nary skill  is  arrived  at ;  but  there  is  no  harmony  in  this  sort  of 
Japanese  music,  and  to  the  unaccustomed  ear  not  much  melody. 
Certain  little  chansonettes  upon  the  samisen,  with  their  light- 
wandering  accompaniments,  live  a  little  in  the  memory ;  such  an 
old-fashioned  verse  as  this,  for  instance,  sung  by  a  glossy-haired 
musume  on  a  winter  day  over  the  fire-box : 

"  Haori  Kakush  'le 
Sode  hiki-tomete 
Do  demo  Kiyo  wa 
li  tsutsu  tatte 
Renji  mado 

Shojl  wo  hoso-me  ni  hike-akete 
Are  miya  san  se 
Kono  yuki  ni  !  " 


eo  Japonica. 

Which  may  be  lightly  interpreted  : 

She  hid  his  coat, 

She  plucked  his  sleeve, 
"  To-day  you  cannot  go  ! 
To-day,  at  least,  you  will  not  leave, 

The  heart  that  loves  you  so  !  " 

The  mado  she  undid 

And  back  the  shoji  slid  : 
And,  clinging,  cried,  "  Dear  Lord,  perceive 

The  whole  white  world  is  snow  !  " 

Nor  is  it  otherwise  than  very  gentle  and  pleasant,  particularly 
cold  nights,  to  sit  round  the  hibachi  in  a  Japanese  household, 
with  the  little  brass  or  silver  pipes  all  alight,  and  the  cups  of  tea 
or  sake  kept  filled ;  listen  to  song  after  song  in  the  strange, 
dreamy,  suggestive  intermixture  of  the  samisens  sharp  string, 
with  the  voices  of  the  women,  sometimes  high-pitched,  some- 
times sinking  to  a  musical  sigh  divided  into  endless  notes.  Oast- 
ing  off  your  shoes  at  the  spotless  threshold  of  the  little  house, 
you  enter  to  sit  on  the  soft,  white  tatamis,  amid  a  gentle  shower 
of  musical  salutations,  "  Oliayo  "  and  "  Y6  o  ide  nasaimashta,"  and 
drinking  the  fragrant  tea,  and  lighting  the  tiny  Jriseru,  listen  to 
the  songs  of  the  "  Dragon  King's  Daughter,"  and  dream  you  are 
Uroshima,  who  discovered  the  Fortunate  Islands,  and  stayed 
there  happily  for  a  thousand  years.  On  the  wall  will  hang  some 
picture  of  the  life  or  teachings  of  the  Buddha,  whose  compas- 
sionate peace  has  passed  into  the  spirit  of  the  land.  The  clean 
and  shapely  brown  feet  of  laughing  musumes  patter  on  the  floor 
in  willing  service,  like  the  coming  and  going  of  birds.  We  fry 
mochi  upon  the  brazier,  and  sip,  in  bright  sobriety,  the  pale  yel- 
low tea.  A  spray  of  scarlet  winter-berries,  and  the  last  of  the 
yellow  chrysanthemums,  suspended  in  a  bamboo  joint,  give 
points  of  lively  color  to  the  apartment,  which  is  so  commodious 
because  it  has  no  doors,  and  so  neat  and  spotless  because  we  do 


Japanese  Teople. 


61 


not  make  streets  of  our  houses.     "When  the  samisen  is  not  tink- 
ling, the  sound  of  light  laughter  makes  sufficient  music,  for  we 
are  Kokoro  yasui,  "  heart 
easy,"  and  life  is  never 
very  serious  in  Japan. 
Listen  a  little  to  the  gay, 
fragmentary  love  song  0 
Tatsu  San  is  murmuring 
to  the  strings,  which  she 
strikes  with  the   ivory 

i 


bacJu  : 


"  CASTING  OFF  YOUR  SHOES." 


"  Skote  wa  jodan 
Nakagora  giri  de 
Ima  ja  tagai  no 
Jitsu  to  jitsu." 


Doubtless  something  real 

in  her  own  little  existence 

renders   her  brown  eyes  so  soft  and   expressive    as   she   thus 

sings  : 

"  First  'twas  all  a  jest, 

Then  'twas  daily  duty  ; 
Now  'tis  at  its  best 

True  faith,  tender  beauty — 
Both  quite  love  possessed." 

"  Malta  utatte  kudasai  /  "  "  One  more  little  song,  0  Tatsu 
San,  and  replenish  the  honorable  tea !  "  We  could  not  imagine 
Japan  without  the  samisen  :  yet,  personally,  I  like  better  the 
lively  little  gekkin  from  China,  with  three  pairs  of  sister-wires, 
something  like  the  mandolin  of  southern  Italy.  The  koto  is  a 
horizontal  harp  with  thirteen  strings,  and  capable  of  very  power- 
ful and  beautiful  effects.  The  biwa  is  a  lute  with  four  chords. 

At  the  kuruma-stand,  where  eight  or  ten  of  the  little  vehicles 
stand  in  a  row,  and  the  brown-legged,  blue-clad  human  steeds 


62  Japonica. 

are  smoking  tiny  brass  kiseru  and  chatting  like  jackdaws,  a  clam- 
orous chorus  of  invitation  arises  :  "  Danna  !  'rikisha  ?  Danna  ! 
irrashaimas  no  des'ka  ?  O  ide  nasai  ?  "  "  Will  you  ride,  Master  ? 
Will  you  make  the  honorable  entrance,  Master  ?  "  One  cannot 
now  so  much  conceive  Japan  existing  without  lier  j  inrikisha  ;  and 
yet  the  invention  now  to  be  seen  on  every  road  and  in  every 
village  of  the  country  is  not  quite  a  quarter  of  a  century  old. 
No  one  positively  knows  who  introduced  it ;  but  it  struck  such 
root  that,  in  Tokio  alone,  there  are  at  present  between  thirty  and 
forty  thousand  of  these  two-wheeled  chairs ;  and  they  have 
spread  to  China  and  Malay,  employing  numbers  of  the  working 
population,  and  adding  an  immense  convenience  to  public  life. 
Jin-riki-sha  signifies  "  man-power  vehicle,"  and  if  you  have  two 
men  to  pull  you  the  phrase  for  that  is  ni-nim-biki,  the  letters 
being  a  little  altered  by  what  Japanese  grammar  calls  "  Nigori" 
The  Tokio  citizens  call  their  little  cab  kunima,  which  means  "  a 
wheel,"  and  the  coolie  who  pulls  it  is  termed  kurumaya.  To  fit 
him  out  with  dark  blue  cotton  coat  and  drawers,  vest  of  cotton, 
reed  hat,  covered  with  white  calico,  and  painted  paper  lantern, 
as  well  as  blue  cloven  socks  for  fine  weather  and  string  sandals 
for  the  mud,  costs  about  three  American  dollars.  But  he  must, 
moreover,  bring  to  the  business  lungs  of  leather  and  sinews  of 
steel ;  nor  does  one  ever  cease  to  wonder  at  the  daily  endurance 
of  these  men.  In  hot  and  cold  weather  alike,  streaming  with 
perspiration  or  pelted  with  snow  and  sleet,  they  trundle  you 
along  apparently  incapable  of  fatigue;  always  cheerful,  always, 
in  my  experience,  honest,  and  easily  satisfied ;  sufficiently  re- 
warded for  running  a  league  with  a  sum  equivalent  to  three  of 
your  dimes.  The  natives,  who  make  bargains  with  them  before 
starting,  go  immense  distances  for  incredibly  small  fares,  and 
constantly  ride  two  together  in  the  same  conveyance.  I  have 
seen  a  kurumaya  cheerfully  wheeling  along  a  father  and  mother, 
with  three  children,  to  say  nothing  of  the  flower-pots,  bird-cages, 


Japanese  People.  63 

and  bunches  of  daikon — the  great  and  dreadful  radish  of  the 
country — earned  in  the  family  laps.  "When  not  engaged  hi  run- 
ning, they  wrap  round  their  shoulders  the  scarlet,  blue,  green,  or 
striped  blanket — ketto — destined  for  the  knees  of  a  customer, 
and  look  then  rather  like  Red  Indians.  They  are  said  to  be  a 
prodigal  tribe,  quickly  spending  in  sake  and  small  pleasures  the 
money  which  they  earn  ;  but  they  need  some  solace  for  the 
prodigiously  exhaustive  work  they  perform,  and,  so  far  as  I  have 
seen,  no  more  temperate  class  can  exist.  At  the  end  of  a  long 
run,  a  cup  of  pale  tea,  a  whiff  at  the  little  brass  pipe,  and,  per- 
haps, a  slice  of  bread  dipped  in  treacle,  start  them  off  again, 
fresh  and  lively,  for  another  stiff  stretch.  The  men  who  took 
us  to  Nikko  from  Utsunomiya  ran  the  entire  twenty-five  miles 
in  four  hours  with  ease,  though  much  of  it  was  up-hill,  and 
would  have  returned,  had  we  desired  it,  on  the  same  day.  A 
jinrikisha-man.  in  good  case  and  fairly  paid  is  not  at  all  afraid 
of  forty  or  fifty  miles  day  after  day ;  nor  is  it  time  that  their 
work  makes  them  specially  short-lived,  so  far  as  my  inquiries 
have  gone.  I  am  persuaded  that  very  advantageous  use  could  be 
made  of  this  kind  of  transport  in  a  campaign.  A  kuruma  can 
go  wherever  there  is  a  path,  and  to  draw  munitions,  provisions, 
stores,  or  to  convey  the  sick  and  wounded,  a  corps  of  jinrikisha 
men  would  be  invaluable  to  an  army.  I  noticed  at  the  Nagoya 
manoeuvres  that  such  employment  was  actually  made  of  them, 
and  very  profitably. 

We  will  not  take  kuruma  to-day,  but  will  walk,  instead,  down 
the  Kuboi-clto  to  Shimbashi,  where  the  rice-boats  and  manure-flats 
lie  at  the  bridge,  and  to  the  long  and  fashionable  Ginza.  "  Sore 
Kara  0  mi  aslii  de  ikimas  !  "  "  You  proceed,  then,  by  the  honor- 
able legs !  "  says  the  kurumaya,  smiling,  and  bows  as  courteously 
as  if  you  had  engaged  him.  How  picturesque  and  special  to  Japan 
is  the  vista  of  this  Tokio  street,  with  the  low,  open  houses  on  each 
side,  all  of  the  same  sober,  weather-tanned  hue,  of  the  same  build, 


64 


Japonica. 


the  same  materials,  the  same  frankly  opened  interior,  the  same 
little  front  shop,  except  where  a  fire-proof  "  go-down,"  more  solidly 

constructed,  breaks 
the  uniformity  with 
its  heavy,  ugly  walls 
and  windows  of  black 
lacquer.  In  a  great 
conflagration  these 
will  be  the  only  build- 
ings left  standing; 
and  after  any  extensive 
Kicaji  you  see  them 
surviving,  isolated  and 
scorched,  like  rocks 
upon  a  burnt  moor- 
land. The  sombre 
color  of  the  houses, 
and  their  black  and 
white  heavy  roofs  and 
ridges,  would  give  a 
too  subdued  and  al- 
most sombre  look  to 
a  Japanese  street,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  gay 
contents  of  the  shops, 
and  the  bright,  good- 
tempered  busy  throngs 
in  the  roadwray.  The 
fruit-stores,  the  doll- 
shops,  the  fan-shops, 


A  BEGGING  PRIEST. 


the  flower-shops,  the 
cake-shops,  the  small  emporiums  where  they  sell  bed-quilts, 
and  Kimono,  and  hanging  pictures  (Kaki-mono),  and  shrines  for 


Japanese  People. 


65 


Buddha,  and  tinselled  hairpins,  and  gold  and  silver  twist  for 
the  hair,  and  umbrellas,  amply  fill  the  scene  with  color.  Then 
the  people  are  so  perpetually 
interesting!  Stand  by  the 
apothecary's  establishment, 
which  has  for  its  sign  a  pair 
of  large  gilded  eyes  and  a  cat- 
alogue of  charms  against 
all  devils,  while  this 
funeral  procession 
passes;  a  square, 
white  box,  borne 
shoulder  high,  by 
four  bearers,  within 
which,  with  head 
resting  upon  his 
knees,  and  the  gold 
ball  above  him  to  denote 
"  space  " — whither  he  has  gone 
— the  dead  takes  his  last  ride 
in  Tokio.  You  need  not  be 
too  melancholy  about  it ;  no- 
body greatly  dreads  or  dislikes 
dying  in  Japan,  where  religion 
has  been  defined  as  "  a  little 
fear  and  a  great  deal  of  fun." 
The  clog  -  maker,  the  girl 
grinding  ice  in  the  Kori-mizu 
shop,  the  hawker  with  fried 
eels,  the  little  naked  boys  and 
girls  at  play ;  the  priest,  the  policemen  in  white,  and  the  pretty, 
tripping  musume,  look  at  the  cortege  a  little,  but  with  their 
laughter  and  chat  only  half  suspended,  as  their  fellow-citizen 


'  WANDERING   ETAS. 


66  Japonica. 

wends  to  take  his  turn  at  gazing  into  the  Johari-no-Kagami — that 
mirror  in  the  other  world  where,  at  a  glance,  you  see  all  the  good 
things  and  all  the  bad  things  which  you  ever  did  in  this.  The 
street,  which  had  stood  aside  a  little  for  the  procession,  fills  anew 
with  misoku,  i.e.,  "coolies,"  or  "leg-men,"  toiling  at  wheeling  tim- 
ber, assisted  heartily  by  old  ladies  in  light  blue  trousers ;  stu- 
dents in  fiat  caps  and  scarlet  socks ;  wandering  etas,  the  Japan- 
ese pariahs ;  perambulating  shopkeepers,  such  as  the  moji-yaki,  or 
"letter-burner,"  who  bakes  swreet  paste  into  characters,  animals, 
or  baskets ;  his  fellow,  the  ame-ya,  or  jelly-man,  who,  from  barley- 
gluten,  will  blow  you,  by  a  reed,  rats,  rabbits,  or  monkeys ;  and  the 
two  priests,  with  long,  embroidered  lapels,  one  telling  such  a  good 
story  that  the  other,  exploding  with  laughter,  is  heard  to  say,  Do- 
ino !  Kuno  tsulmsliita.  "Really!  you  have  burst  my  liver!  "  If  it 
be  the  season  of  kites,  everybody  will  be  flying  them,  in  mid  traf- 
fic, even  the  shopkeeper  has  despatched  one  aloft,  worked  by  a 
string  fastened  to  his  hibachi,  and  the  barber's  family  launches  one 
from  the  upper  window  of  the  house,  marked  by  the  conventional 
pole  of  red,  blue,  and  white.  The  chiffonier  of  Japan — the  Katn  i- 
Kudsuliiroi — is  picking  up  rags  and  paper  scraps  with  a  forked 
bamboo ;  the  sparrow-catcher  goes  stealthily  along  carrying  a  tall 
bamboo  rod  armed  with  bird-lime  fatal  to  many  a  chirping  bird ; 
the  gravely  dressed  doctor  passes  with  a  boy  to  carry  his  pestle- 
and-niortar  box,  and  "  the  thousand-year-life-pills  ;  "  the  fortune- 
teller spreads  on  a  cloth  his  fifty  little  sticks  and  six  black  and 
red  blocks  of  wood,  which  can  tell  you  more  than  man  should  know ; 
the  bean-cake-seller  tinkles  his  bells  and  beats  his  gong  to  an- 
nounce his  sticky  wares;  the  am  ma,  the  blind  shampooer,  feels 
his  way  slowly  through  the  crowd,  piping  three  lugubrious  notes 
on  his  reed-flute,  and  ready  to  pound  and  knead  anybody's  mus- 
cles into  vigor  for  three-pence  ;  while  in  a  quiet  comer,  under  the 
temple-wall,  the  street-artist,  surrounded  by  admirers,  constructs 
pictures  and  writes  Chinese  mottoes  on  the  earth  with  handfuls 


Japanese  Teople. 


"THE   AMMA.'' 

"  The  blind  shampooer  feels  his  way  slowly  through  the  crowd,  piping  three  lugubrious  notes 

on  his  reed  flute." 

of  tinted  sand.  Into  the  temple-court — for  it  is  Jfafxuri,  and  a 
great  day — are  pouring  lines  of  people  to  say  a  brisk  prayer  at 
the  shrine,  and  to  buy  some  toys  for  the  children  at  the  hummer- 


68 


Japonica. 


able  stalls  round  the  court.  Religion  and  pleasure  go  hand  in 
hand  in  Japan.  Observe  the  old  lady,  with  shaven  eyebrows  and 
blackened  teeth,  belonging  to  by-gone  Japan ;  her  two  daughters, 

who  are  of  the  newer  style, 
and  proudly  cany  European 
umbrellas,  and  even  black  silk 
gloves.  They  wash  their  hands 
from  the  temple  well  by  means 
of  a  small  wooden  ladle;  ap- 
proach the  altar,  pull  the  thick 
cord  which  makes  the  gong 
sound,  and,  the  attention  of 
heaven  having  been  engaged, 
they  pray  their  silent  prayers 
with  bowed  heads  and  clasped 
palms ;  throw  a  sen  into  the 
offering-box,  and  clapping  their 
hands  to  let  Divinity  know 
their  affair  is  finished,  they 
turn  aside,  merrily  chatting,  to 
sip  tea  at  the  "Snow-white 
Stork"  and  purchase  hair- 
pins and  playthings  for  the  Kodomo. 

Alike  in  the  street  and  the  temple-court,  the  pretty,  lively, 
laughing  Japanese  girl  lights  up  the  crowd  with  her  bright  dress, 
her  happy,  winsome  face  and  shining  tresses,  splendidly  elabo- 
rated. I  have  described  her  faithfully  in  the  subjoined  verses : 

THE    MUSMEE. 

The  Musmee  lias  brown-velvet  eyes, 

Curtained  with  satin,  sleepily ; 
You  wonder  if  those  lids  would  rise 

The  newest,  strangest  sight  to  see ! 


"FOB  IT  IS  MATSUBI." 


Japanese  People.  69 


Yet,  when  she  chatters,  laughs,  or  plays 

Koto,  or  lute,  or  samisen — 
No  jewel  gleams  with  brighter  rays 

Than  flash  from  those  dark  lashes  then. 

The  Musmee  has  a  small  brown  face — 

Musk-melon  seed  its  perfect  shape — 
Arched,  jetty  eyebrows  ;  nose  to  grace 

The  rosy  mouth  beneath ;  a  nape, 
And  neck,  and  chin ;  and  smooth  soft  cheeks, 

Carved  out  of  sun -burned  ivory ; 
With  teeth  which,  when  she  smiles  or  speaks, 

Pearl  merchants  might  come  leagues  to  see ! 

The  Musmee's  hair  could  teach  the  night 

How  to  grow  dark,  the  raven's  wing 
How  to  seem  ebon  ;    grand  the  sight 

When  in  rich  masses  towering. 
She  builds  each  high  black-marble  coil, 

And  binds  the  gold  and  scarlet  in, 
And  thrusts,  triumphant,  through  the  toil 

The  Kanzdshi,  her  jewelled  pin. 

The  Musmee  has  small,  faultless  feet, 

With  snow-white  tabi  trimly  decked, 
Which  patter  down  the  city  street 

In  short  steps,  slow  and  circumspect ; 
A  velvet  string  between  her  toes 

Holds  to  its  place  the  unwilling  shoe, 
Pretty  and  pigeon-like  she  goes, 

And  on  her  head  a  hood  of  blue. 

The  Musmee  wears  a  wondrous  dress — 

Kimono,  obi,  imogi — 
A  rose-bush  in  spring- loveliness 

Is  not  more  color-glad  to  see ! 
Her  girdle  holds  her  silver  pipe, 

And  heavy  swing  her  long  silk  sleeves 
With  cakes,  love-letters,  mikans  ripe, 

Small  change,  musk-box,  and  writing  leaves. 


to  Japan  ica. 

The  Musmee's  lieart  is  slow  to  grief 

And  quick  to  pleasure,  love,  and  song ; 
The  Musmee's  pocket-handkerchief, 

A  square  of  paper!     All  day  long 
Gentle,  and  sweet,  and  debonair 

Is — rich  or  poor — this  Asian  lass, 
Heaven  have  her  in  its  tender  care ! 

0  medeto  gozarimas  !  * 

Turning  aside  a  little  from  the  picturesque  and  bustling 
"  Clio,"  we  easily  come  to  Shiba,  buried  in  groves  of  cryptomeria, 
an  island  of  solemn  peace  and  grandeur  in  the  bosom  of  the  city. 
Here,  shut  in  by  ponderous  red  gateways,  built  of  mighty  beams, 
with  giant  doors  which  turn  upon  huge  hinges  of  copper,  are  the 
tombs  and  temples  of  six  of  the  famous  Tokugawa  Shoguns,  the 
ancient  rulers  of  this  land  under  the  Mikado.  It  is  like  passing 
out  of  the  rolling  sea  into  a  land-locked  harbor,  to  step  over  the 
threshold  of  the  massive  vermilion  porch,  and  to  find  yourself  in 
the  outer  court  of  the  Zojoji.  Around  are  hundreds  of  stone 
memorial  iskidoro — as  many  as  two  hundred  in  one  alone  of 
these  pebbled  enclosures,  offerings  to  the  princely  deceased  from 
their  vassals.  Screened  walls  and  portals,  presenting  wonderful 
work  in  wood-carving,  gilding,  and  lacquer,  shut  the  outer  courts 
from  the  inner.  Each  panel  is  enriched  with  a  different  subject 
— flowers,  birds,  and  real,  or  fabulous  animals,  dexterously  re- 
lieved by  gold-leaf  and  color.  Passing  again  through  these  walls, 
inner  inclosures  are  reached  where  stand  colossal  bronze  lan- 
terns of  high  finish.  Dancing-houses,  treasure-houses,  and  libra- 
ries for  the  sacred  books,  exquisitely  decorated ;  a  vast  washing 
cistern  to  be  used  before  prayer,  cut  out  of  one  block  of  stone, 
and  lotus  pools,  which,  in  August,  are  full  of  the  white  and  blue 
blossoms  of  the  hallowed  flower,  attract  the  attention.  By  yet 
another  gateway,  sculptured  and  embellished  to  an  extraordinary 
height,  of  semi-barbarous,  but  splendid  beauty,  the  step  is  led  to 

*  "  May  it  be  prosperous  with  you  !  " 


Japanese  "People. 


71 


the  central 
shrine  itself. 
All  around  are 
detached 
buildings,  so- 
b  e  r 1 y  but 
splendidly 
adorned  with 
the  very  best 
which  Japan- 
ese art  could 
lavish  on 
them,  in  per- 


"  A  GATEWAY,    SCULPTURED  AND   EMBELLISHED  TO  AN   EXTRAORDINARY   HEIGHT  OP  SEMI- 
BARBAROUS  BUT  SPLENDID  BEAUTY." 

feet  joinery,  gilding,  coloring,  lacquer,  metal-work,  painting, 
and  carving.  The  whole  place  is  full  of  symbolism.  On  the 
outer  screens,  shutting  off  the  first  court,  you  may  have  no- 


72  Japonica. 

ticed  waves  of  the  sea,  done  in  brass,  furiously  running  on 
the  panels,  with  storm-birds  hovering.  It  was  an  emblem  of 
the  unrest  of  life  for  all  of  us,  as  well  as  for  Shoguns.  But 
at  the  second  wall  the  brazen  waves  were  chiselled,  rolling 
more  quietly,  and  here,  on  the  screen  by  which  we  enter  the 
court  of  the  chapel  of  lyenobu  and  lye-oslii,  the  waves  are 
moulded  as  falling  asleep;  doves  brood,  in  silver  and  gold; 
there  is  peace!  Laying  aside  shoes,  you  may  pass  over  the 
black-lacquered  steps  and  floors,  through  golden  doors,  into  the 
central  shrine,  spread  with  the  whitest  and  finest  of  mats ;  and 
the  walls  and  ceilings  are  so  daintily  and  patiently  wrought  with 
wonderful  workmanship  that  every  square  inch  demands  a  special 
study.  The  great  HOUSE  OF  DEATH  is  finished  off,  in  its  minut- 
est portion,  like  a  flower-vase  or  a  netsuke,  and,  perhaps,  the  very 
utmost  that  Japanese  craftsmanship  could  ever  accomplish,  in  its 
own  special  provinces,  may  here  be  seen  and  admired.  Every 
incense-pole  and  lamp-stand  is  a  lovely  object,  alike  for  its  labor 
and  design.  The  low  stands  on  which  the  sacred  books  lie  open 
have  priceless  enrichments ;  and  one  is  glad  to  see  the  silent 
priests  move  about  in  gold  and  silver  brocade,  for  ordinary  dress 
in  such  a  magnificent  scene  would  appear  incongruous.  At  the 
same  time,  the  more  you  realize  the  artistic  richness  of  this  great 
group  of  temples  and  tombs,  the  more  you  are  struck  with  the 
low-toned,  sober,  restrained  ensemble  of  it  all.  The  shrines  them- 
selves are  but  the  Japanese  hut  idealized,  the  gold  and  the  glit- 
tering brass,  and  the  sharp  colors  of  the  carvings  sink  back  from 
the  sunlight  under  the  massive  eaves,  and  where  a  screen,  or  a 
painted  side-wall  would  glitter  too  much,  the  heavy  foliage  of  the 
cryptomerias  casts  a  black  curtain  upon  it.  The  character  of  the 
place  is  deeply  impressive,  a  proud  melancholy,  a  princely  mod- 
esty, a  sumptuousness  royal  to  prodigality,  not  for  ostentation, 
but  for  love  of  pensive  beauty,  show  themselves  everywhere.  The 
Shoguns  are  certainly  buried,  as  if  they  were  emperors,  in  the 


Japanese  People. 


heart  of  this  concourse  of  black  and  gold  and  lacquered  chapels 
and  cemeteries,  shut  from  the  busy  city  by  the  dark  trees,  the 
high  walls,  and  the  blood-red  gateways. 


"  SCREENED  WALLS  AND  PORTALS,    PRESENTING   WONDERFUL  WORK   IN   WOOD-CARVING." 

Near  Shimbashi  we  pass  under  the  tall  ladder  of  a  fire-sta- 
tion, on  the  summit  of  which  stands  a  watchman,  looking  north, 
south,  east,  and  west,  to  spy  the  rolling  smoke  which  by  daytime 


Japonica. 


first  denotes  a  conflagration.  If  he  sees  signs  of  a  fire,  kwaji,~he 
will  beat  upon  the  gong  at  his  side  as  many  blows  as,  by  a 

preconcerted  code,  denote  the  par- 
ticular "cho"  which  is  the  scene 
of  the  disaster.  Persons  passing 
count  the  strokes  and  hurry  home- 
ward, if  it  be  a  case  of 

"  tua  res  agitur  qnum 
Proximus  Ucalegon  ardet ;  " 

that  is  to  say,  if  their  own  district 
be  concerned.     Next  we  turn  into 
the   "Ginza,"  the   "Broadway"  of 
the  metropolis  of  Japan — a  really 
fine  thoroughfare,  with  paved  side- 
walks, tramways  in  the  middle,  and 
shops    of    a   superior   description. 
Here    ebbs   and 
flows   the    full 
business   life   of 
the     city,    and 
mingling  with 
it,  as  else- 
where,  the 
clattering  pat- 
tens,   the    moth- 
ers and  sisters  with 
the    babies    on  their 
backs  ;  the  children  kite- 

"  THE  TALL  LAHDEH  OF  A  FIRE-STATION."  flying  J      tll6      t^erS      Sitting 

over  their  glowing  charcoal  braziers;  the  hawkers  of  fish, 
dried  radish,  cakes,  persimmons,  toys,  pipes,  kites,  and  flags; 
the  coolies  with  their  balanced  loads  ;  the  blind  old  samisen- 


"THE  WHOLE  PLACE  18  FL'LL  OF  SYMBOLISM. 


Japanese  People.  77 

players ;  the  Buddhist  priests ;  the  pretty  in  usmees,  with  their 
hair  like  black  marble  and  pigeon  -  feet ;  the  imperturbable 
slit-eyed  babies ;  the  acquaintances  meeting  in  the  street 
and  profusely  bowing  and  saluting ;  the  Japanese  officers 
riding  along,  each  with  his  hetto,  or  groom  ;  the  flower-pedlers ; 
the  bullock-men ;  the  bird-dealers  ;  the  tea  -  houses,  the  little 
funny  house  -  fronts  and  opened  interiors  ;  the  bath  -  rooms,  the 
temples,  the  stone-yards,  the  basket-works,  the  gliding  rice-boats 
— tout  le  tremblement,  in  fact,  of  the  wonderful  and  ever-interest- 
ing capital  city  of  Japan.  Or  we  might  have  come  into  the  Gin- 
za  across  the  Shiro,  by  any  of  its  many  entrances  and  exits,  the 
Tora  Monor,  "Tiger  Gate  ;  "  the  Sakurnda-gomon,  " Cherryfield 
Gate ; "  or  the  Hanzo  -yo-  mon,  which  leads  to  the  emperor's 
gardens  and  the  imperial  place.  This  Shiro  is  a  great  feature  of 
the  city,  in  the  midst  of  which  it  sits ;  a  spacious  and  far-com- 
manding fortified  enceinte,  everywhere  surrounded  by  lofty  em- 
bankments, planted  with  ancient  firs,  and  walls  of  giant  masonry, 
at  the  feet  of  which  sleep  broad  moats,  covered,  in  winter-time, 
with  wild-duck  and  geese,  bitterns  and  herons.  Nothing  can  be 
finer  in  appearance,  as  embellishments  of  a  capital,  than  these 
massive  ramparts  and  green  slopes  of  grass,  overshadowed  by  the 
gnarled  fir-trees.  The  masonry  looks  as  solid  as  a  sea-cliff,  built 
out  at  all  its  angles  with  huge  blocks  of  stone  like  the  ram  of  an 
ironclad,  in  a  curved  projecting  outline,  so  that  the  mighty 
blocks  sit  back  immovable  in  their  places,  and  it  seems  that  not 
even  an  earthquake  could  have  the  smallest  effect  upon  them. 
In  the  emperor's  palace  we  might  have  seen  the  most  perfect  ex- 
ample of  what  Japanese  carpenters  and  joiners  can  accomplish, 
and  yet,  though  every  ceiling  there  is  a  work  of  high  art,  di- 
vided by  rich  brown  lacquer  into  panels  exquisitely  decorated, 
and  the  costliest  silks  and  most  splendid  carvings  are  lavished 
all  around  ;  amid  all  that  luxury  of  royal  art  you  would  observe 
the  great  square  supporting  posts  of  white  fir,  left  simply  hand- 


7S  Japonica. 

dressed  in  all  their  milky,  pure,  velvet-like  beauty,  delighting 
the  eye  with  the  natural  grain  and  texture,  as  nothing  manu- 
factured by  the  wit  of  man  ever  could.  And  if  we  were  attempt- 
ing more  than  the  merest  stroll  about  the  city,  we  ought  to  pass 
Fugi-mi-cho,  where,  near  the  monument — a  vast  bronze  bayonet, 
erected  to  the  soldiers  slain  in  the  civil  war — the  city  spreads 
out,  of  one  interminable  pattern  and  color  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
see.  We  should  have  gone  to  Uyeno  to  visit  the  great  exhibi- 
tion, and  see  the  lotuses  in  blossom,  and  to  Asakusa  to  view  the 
imposing  temple  of  Kivannon  Sama,  the  Merciful  Goddess ;  also 
the  temples  of  the  Five  Hundred  Sages,  and  of  the  God  of  War, 
Hachi-man,  where  we  might  have  duly  honored  the  shrine  of 
Kobo-Daishi,  the  too  ingenious  inventor  of  the  Japanese  alpha- 
bet. We  might  have  stood  on  the  famous  Niliom-basln,  the  cen- 
tral spot  of  the  city,  from  which  all  distances  are  measured 
throughout  the  empire,  and  might  have  traversed,  close  by,  Anjin 
Cho,  or  "Pilot  Street,"  so  named  after  the  English  sailor,  Will 
Adams,  who  came  here  in  the  time  of  Shakespeare,  married  a 
Japanese  wife,  and  grew  to  be  a  favorite  of  the  emperor,  and  a 
great  two-sworded  Japanese  nobleman.  His  letters  from  Japan, 
published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society,  furnish  the  most  delightful 
reading,  being  written  in  that  large  and  quaint  style  which 
seemed  to  come  naturally  in 

"  The  spacious  times  of  great  Elizabeth." 

That  the  old  navigator  had  well  feathered  his  nest  in  Japan 
is  clear,  from  an  account  given  by  another  adventurer  of  his 
place  of  residence  at  Hemi,  near  Yokosuka.  He  there  describes 
Will  Adams's  place  thus  :  "  This  Hemi  is  a  Lordshipp  geuen  to 
Capt.  Adams  pr.  the  ould  Emperour  to  hym  and  his  for  eaver,  & 
conformed  to  hys  sonne,  called  Joseph.  There  is  above  100 
farms  or  howsholds,  uppon  it,  besides  others  under  them,  all 
which  are  his  vassals,  and  he  hath  power  of  lyfe  <fe  death  ouer 


Japanese  People.  79 

them,  they  being  his  slaues ;  he  hauing  as  absolute  authoritie 
over  them  as  any  tono  (or  king)  in  Japan  hath  over  his  vassals." 

But  I  must  imagine  that  my  gentle  reader  is  already  a  little 
fatigued  with  the  streets  and  clios  and  temples  which  have  been 
inspected,  and  would  be  not  unwilling  to  dine  a  la  Japonaise  at 
some  one  of  the  many  excellent  restaurants  which  throng  the 
city.  Let  us  then  turn  aside  from  the  main  thoroughfares  to 
choose  a  spot  where  will  be  fresh  and  good  Japanese  cookery, 
with  retirement.  Such  a  retreat  may  be  found  as  well,  perhaps, 
as  anywhere,  at  the  sign  of  the  "Golden  Koi"  which  sits  upon 
the  sea  near  Shinagawa,  on  Tokio  Bay.  We  will,  therefore,  call 
kurumas  and  make  our  usual  bargain  to  go  and  return.  Like 
the  elder  Mr.  Weller,  whose  knowledge  of  London  "  was  exten- 
sive and  peculiar,"  these  wonderful  little  men  seem  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  every  nook  and  corner  of  their  vast  labyrinth  of 
wood  and  paper  which  is  called  Tokio.  As  for  the  "Golden 
Koi,"  it  is  too  famous  and  respectable,  of  course,  not  to  be  fa- 
miliar, and  the  small,  brown,  two-legged  horses  take  a  quick 
"  bee-line "  for  the  Yadoya,  where  we  are  to  seek  refreshment. 
We  cross  the  railway  line  and  are  smartly  wheeled  into  the  gar- 
den of  the  inn,  adorned  with  the  artificial  crags,  dwarfed  trees, 
and  tiny  lakes,  with  goldfish  and  fairy  pagodas  and  bridges,  in 
which  the  Japanese  take  such  pleasure.  As  we  approach  the 
door  all  the  waiting-maids  of  the  establishment — the  musmees — 
in  pretty  striped  and  flowered  kimonos  and  obis,  with  glossy  black 
hair  "  done  to  the  nines,"  hasten  to  the  threshold  to  receive  us, 
uttering  a  chorus  of  "Irrashai  !  Yoko  irrashai  mashta,  o  ide  na- 
sal ! "  which  is  to  say,  "  Condescend  entrance !  You  are  very 
welcome.  Please  make  the  honorable  entrance  ! "  You  slip  off 
your  shoes,  nor  will  you  have  been  long  in  Japan  before  you  learn 
to  wear  daily  some  foot-gear  which  comes  off  and  on  as  easily 
as  the  native  geta,  and  you  also  learn  to  carry  a  shoe-horn  as  regu- 


80 


Japonica. 


larly  as  your  watch  or  cigar-case.  Lifting  their  foreheads  from 
the  matting,  or  polished  plafond,  the  musmees  receive  hats  and 
umbrellas  and  take  you  by  the  hand  to  lead  you  nikai  ni,  up 
the  shining  ladder-like  staircase  to  the  spotless  apartment  aloft, 


COMING  TO  THE  GOLDEN  KOI— WAITING-GIBLS  RECEIVING  GUESTS. 

where  the  open  sltoji  give  directly  upon  the  sea.  It  is  fair  and 
fresh  here ;  wavelets  are  running  in  from  the  quiet  gulf  under 
the  balcony,  and  three  large  sampans,  drawn  ashore,  are  dis- 
charging a  good  haul  of  fish,  which  their  owners  have  made  this 
morning.  One  man,  stark  naked,  brings  two  tubs  upon  his 
shoulder  to  the  side  of  the  boat,  and  those  within  it  ladle  forth 
the  great  tai,  and  all  sorts  of  other  fish,  with  hand-nets  out  of 
the  hold.  Close  by  is  a  sea-pond  where  fresh  catches  are  kept 


Japanese  People.  81 

alive  in  floating  boxes.  After  observing  all  this,  and  the  bright 
seascape,  with  junks  and  sampans  and  great  foreign  ships,  you 
sit  down  on  the  circular  silk  futons,  brought  by  the  musmee,  who 
has  come  in  with  the  "honorable  tea" — a  cup  for  each  person — 
and  two  or  three  tobacco-mono  bearing  lighted  charcoal. 

To  be  quite  Japanese,  we  will  begin  by  taking  from  our 
girdle  the  little  brass  pipes  and  silken  tobacco  bags,  filling  the 
kiseru,  and  inhaling  one  or  two  fragrant  whiffs  of  the  delicate 
Japanese  tobacco.  In  their  use  of  the  nicotian  herb,  as  in  very 
many  other  things,  the  Japanese  display  a  supreme  refinement. 
The  rudest  coolie,  the  coarsest  farm-laborer,  equally  with  the 
lady  of  rank,  the  pretty  geisha,  and  the  minister  of  state,  are  con- 
tent with  this  tiny  pipe,  which  does  not  hold  enough  to  make 
even  Queen  Mab  sneeze.  They  stuff  a  little  rolled  pill  of  the 
fine-cut  leaf  into  a  bowl  smaller  than  the  smallest  acom-cup, 
thrust  it  in  the  glowing  charcoal,  and  inhale  deep  into  the  lungs 
just  one  fragrant  whiff  of  the  blue  smoke,  which  they  expel  by 
mouth  and  nostrils.  Then  they  shake  out  the  little  burning 
plug  into  the  bamboo  receptacle  and  load  up  again  for  a  second 
ippuku  ;  valuing  only  the  first  sweet  purity  of  the  lighted  luxury, 
and  always  wondering  how  we  can  smoke  a  great  pipeful  to  the 
"  bitter  end,"  or  suck  for  half  an  hour  at  a  huge  Havana  puro. 
"Kiseru  no  shita  ni  doku  arimas!"  they  say  —  "At  the  bottom 
of  a  pipe  there  lives  poison."  Much  fancy  and  fashion  are  dis- 
played in  the  appurtenances  of  the  pipe.  Ladies  carry  them  in 
little  long,  embroidered  silk  cases,  with  silken  pouches  attached, 
fastened  by  an  ivory,  bronze,  silver,  or  jewelled  clasp.  Men 
wear,  stuck  in  their  girdles,  a  pipe-sheath  of  carved  ivory,  bone, 
or  bamboo ;  and  the  pipe  itself  may  be  a  small,  commonplace  ar- 
ticle of  reed  and  brass,  or  an  exquisite  object  in  bronze,  silver, 
or  gold,  worked  up  with  lovely  ornament  in  lacquer  or  enamel. 

The  kneeling  musmee  next  presents  a  bill  of  fare,  written  in 
yellow  Chinese  characters  on  a  black  lacquer  board,  to  read 


82  Japonica. 

which,  and  understand  the  merits  of  the  various  dishes,  we  must 
suppose  ourselves  honored  by  the  society  of  native  friends.  In 
any  case,  be  sure  to  order  some  unagi-meshi,  the  very  nicest  thing 
which  they  cook  in  Japan,  consisting  of  small  silver  eels,  from 
which  the  bones  have  been  removed,  split,  spitted  upon  bamboo 
splinters,  and  roasted  upon  boiled  rice,  with  a  delicious  sauce. 
We  decide  upon  the  usual  four  courses,  with  sake  of  the  first 
quality  ;  and  whoever  gives  the  order  will  now  fold  up  in  paper, 
say  twenty  sen,  for  the  musmee,  and,  if  very  liberal,  thirty  or 
forty  for  the  aruji,  or  mistress  of  the  house.  "  Chisai  mono  !  " 
you  mutter,  pushing  the  folded  papers  to  the  girl,  who  goes 
down  upon  her  nose  and  murmurs  in  reply,  "  Domo  arigato  zonji- 
mas"  "  Really,  most  thankful,"  but  does  not  touch  them  yet,  as 
it  is  etiquette  never  to  seem  in  a  hurry  to  appropriate  a  gift. 
She  disappears  to  convey  the  "  honorable  commands,"  and  then 
there  ensues  a  longish  wait,  during  which  you  will  smoke  and 
chat  again,  and  watch  more  fishermen  arriving  with  their  silvery 
cargoes;  the  betto  washing  their  horses  in  the  sea;  the  brown, 
bare  Japanese  boys  and  girls  disporting  in  it ;  and  the  servants 
of  the  hotel  taking  out  from  the  fish-boxes  the  struggling  materi- 
als of  your  dinner.  Presently  the  musmees  return,  bringing  the 
hot  sake  in  a  tall  china  bottle,  placed  within  a  wooden  stand,  and 
a  tiny,  delicate  sake-cup  for  each  guest,  lying  in  a  porcelain, 
bronze,  or  carved  wooden  bowl  of  water.  They  also  bring  a  red 
or  black  lacquered  tray,  placing  it  before  each  guest,  bearing  a 
covered  bowl  full  of  chawan — a  thin  fish-soup  boiled  with  mush- 
rooms and  sea-weed — -and  brand  new  chopsticks,  not  yet  parted 
one  from  the  other.  Taking  a  sake-cup  in  both  hands,  the 
kneeling  maid  presents  it  to  the  chief  guest,  and  afterward  other 
cups  to  the  others,  in  like  manner,  filling  each  to  the  brim,  but 
careful  not  to  spill  a  drop.  You  toss  your  first  cup  off,  and,  rins- 
ing it  in  the  water,  offer  it  with  both  hands  to  each  friend  in 
succession,  saying,  "  Ippai  kudasai"  He  or  she  takes  your  cup, 


Japanese  People.  85 

lifts  it  to  the  forehead,  holds  it  to  be  filled,  drinks,  rinses,  and 
returns  it ;  after  which  you  must  also  drink.  As  this  goes  on  all 
around,  a  good  deal  of  the  hot  rice  wine  becomes  absorbed  before 
the  meal  commences ;  but  this  is  quite  Japanese.  The  musmee, 
kneeling  before  you,  keeps  her  black  eyes  wide  open  to  notice 
and  fill  up  all  empty  cups,  or  a  friend  will  perform  that  office  for 
you — the  strict  rule  being  that  you  must  never  help  yourself  to 
the  "honorable  sake." 

You  now  split  apart  your  chopsticks,  lift  the  lid  of  the  cltawan, 
and  fish  out  a  first  morsel.  Chopsticks,  far  from  being  awkward, 
are  the  most  convenient  as  well  as  the  cleanest  table  utensils,  once 
the  secret  of  their  use  is  learned.  It  cannot  be  taught  in  words. 
There  is  an  indescribable  knack  of  fixing  one  stick  firmly,  and 
hinging  the  other  with  the  first  and  second  finger,  so  as  to  play 
exactly  upon  the  fixed  stick,  which  renders  the  little  implements 
perfect  for  everything  except,  of  course,  juice  or  gravy,  and  soup. 
You  can  even  cut  with  them  by  inserting  the  points  close  together, 
and  then  forcibly  separating  them  ;  and  as  for  handiness  and  pre- 
cision of  grasp,  in  a  little  wager  at  this  very  restaurant,  even  I 
myself  picked  up  with  the  has/a  twenty-two  single  grains  of  rice 
in  one  minute  from  a  lacquered  tray,  being  beaten  by  a  Japanese 
lady,  whose  swift  skill  dexterously  conveyed  as  many  as  forty-nine. 
You  drink  the  soup,  and  find  also  on  your  tray  a  saucer  of  kuclii- 
tori,  which  is  a  sort  of  omelette,  together  with  kinto,  a  sticky  mass 
of  beans  and  sugar ;  and  perhaps  some  kama  boko,  fish  pounded 
and  rolled  into  little  balls.  Or  there  will  be  su-no-mono,  sea-slugs, 
(Holothuria)  soused  in  vinegar.  The  kinto  is  prettily  adorned 
with  flower-leaves  and  colored  strings  of  sugar. 

Hereupon  the  mmmees  appear  again  with  more  lacquered 
trays,  bearing  more  saucers  and  little  dishes  made  of  sticks 
of  glass.  On  these  will  be  forthcoming  another  sort  of  soup, 
shiru,  of  fish  and  sea-weed ;  or  sui-mono,  of  bean  curds ;  or 
chawan-Jfushi,  a  thick,  yellow,  and  more  substantial  soup,  to- 


86  Japonica. 

gether  with  liaslii-yakana,  large  slices  of  broiled  tai,  and  tsubo 
or  won',  sea-weed,  in  strings  or  flakes,  of  which  the  Japanese  are 
fonder  than  the  foreigner  is  likely  to  prove.  On  another  glass 
plate  raw  fish  will  tempt  you,  cut  into  delicate  slices,  with,  close 
at  hand,  a  small  quantity  of  ivasabi,  the  hot  mountain  horse- 
radish. Do  not  reject  the  raw  fish  until  you  have  stirred  a 
pinch  of  the  ivasabi  into  your  porcelain  soypan,  dipped  a  flake 
of  the  fish  into  that  sauce,  and  eaten  it,  with  a  touch  or  two 
of  the  kono-mono,  the  pickled  egg-plant,  cabbage-leaves,  daikon, 
and  cucumber,  arranged  as  neatly  as  a  mosaic  on  a  red  tray. 
The  raw  fish  is  called  namasu,  and  is  not  only  very  nice  but 
very  digestible.  Around  you  by  this  time  will  swarm  other 
little  dishes;  sashimi,  minced  fish,  boiled  lotus  and  lily  roots, 
aemono  salad,  made  with  pounded  sesamum-seed,  and  a  peach, 
or  persimmon,  or  orange  in  crystallized  sugar,  with,  possibly, 
some  salted  plums.  Do  not  be  too  much  allured  by  these  at- 
tractions, because  the  unagi-meshi  has  yet  to  come,  for  which 
you  must  keep  a  considerable  corner.  It  is  brought  in  boxes 
of  gilded  lacquer,  the  rice  accompanying  in  a  handsome  bowl ; 
and  if  you  have  not  cared  for  the  sea-ears  and  sea-slugs,  nor 
much  enjoyed  the  raw  fish  and  the  daikon,  you  might  dine 
abundantly  on  this  delicious  dish  alone.  You  are  at  last  sur- 
rounded by  twenty  or  thirty  dishes,  like  a  ship  in  harbor  by  a 
fleet  of  boats,  and  the  best  of  a  Japanese  dinner  is  that,  after 
flitting  like  a  butterfly  from  flower  to  flower  of  the  culinary 
parterre,  you  can  not  only  come  back  to  anything  that  has  origi- 
nally pleased,  but  leave  off  to  smoke  and  chat,  and  then  com- 
mence again,  if  you  like,  at  the  very  beginning.  When  every- 
body has  had  enough,  particularly  of  sake,  the  substantial  part 
of  the  repast  has  still  to  arrive,  for  the  Japanese.  The  last  sake 
bottle  is  removed  and  gohan  is  brought,  the  honorable,  great, 
white  tub  with  hot,  boiled  rice.  Along  with  it  reappears  fresh 
tea,  and  each  native  guest  will  consume  two  bowls  of  rice,  and 


Japanese  People. 


87 


then  another,  amply  saturated  with  tea.  I  forgot  to  mention 
that  with  the  first  tea-service  ornamental  colored  cakes  are  of- 
fered, sola,  sldruko,  and  later  on  sushi.  Lastly  come  the  pipes 
again,  and  at  the  proper  time  some  one  says  to  the  kneeling 

musmee,  " Ka nj o 
okure  nasal"  "Be 
pleased  to  bring  the 
honorable  account." 
At  this  moment  the 
hostess  will,  no 
doubt,  appear  with 


BE   PLEASED   TO   BRINCi   THE   HONORABLE   ACCOUNT." 


lowly  obeisances,  and,  thanking  her  guests,  and  deeply  apologiz- 
ing for  "0  Madddo  Sama"  "the  honorable  Mr.  waiting-time," 
though  there  will  have  been  nothing  to  complain  of  as  to  the 
delay.  The  light  account  is  discharged,  the  attendant  Tcurumaya 
are  summoned,  and  we  depart  in  a  sincere  and  gentle  storm  of 
"3Iata  dozo  0  liayaku"  and  "Mata  irrashai"  "Come  again  soon!" 
"  Be  pleased  to  come  quickly  again ! " 


III. 

JAPANESE  WAYS  AND  THOUGHTS 


f  I 

"*      » • 


ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER,  writing  about  the  Japanese  people  in 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  said :  "  This  nation  is  the 
delight  of  my  soul ! "  Will  Adams,  the  English  pilot-major, 
sending  home  an  account  of  the  land  where  he  was  at  that  time  a 
prisoner,  although  soon  to  be  released  and  raised  to  great  favor, 
delivered  it  gravely  as  his  opinion  that  "the  people  of  the  Hand 
of  lapan  are  good  of  nature,  curteous  aboue  measure  and  valiant 
in  warre :  their  iustice  is  seuerely  executed  without  any  partiali- 
tie  vpon  transgressors  of  the  law.  They  are  gouemed  in  great 
ciuilitie.  I  meane,  not  a  land  better  gouerned  in  the  world  by 
ciuill  policie.  The  people  be  verie  superstitious  in  their  religion, 
and  of  diuers  opinions  :  alsoe  veri  subiect  to  thear  goirvemoiirs 
and  superiores." 

Kaempfer,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  describes 
the  Japanese  as  "  bold,  .  .  .  heroic,  .  .  .  revengeful, 
.  .  .  desirous  of  fame,  .  .  .  very  industrious  and  enured 
to  hardships  ;  .  .  .  great  lovers  of  civility  and  good  manners, 
and  very  nice  in  keeping  themselves,  their  cloaths  and  houses, 
clean  and  neat.  .  .  .  As  to  all  sorts  of  handicrafts,  either 
curious  or  useful,  they  are  wanting  neither  proper  materials,  nor 
industry  and  application,  and  so  far  is  it  that  they  should  have 
any  occasion  to  send  for  masters  from  abroad,  that  they  rather 
exceed  all  other  nations  in  ingenuity  and  neatness  of  workman- 
ship, particularly  in  brass,  gold,  silver,  and  copper." 


92  Japonica. 

Modem  authorities,  endeavoring  to  summarize  the  character 
of  the  inhabitants  of  "Dai  Nippon,"  appear  fairly  unanimous 
with  regard  to  the  fine  manners,  the  high  spirit,  the  docility,  the 
loyalty,  industry,  neatness,  and  artistic  genius  of  this  race  ;  but 
one  complains  of  their  secretiveness  and  disregard  of  truth ; 
another  of  their  lack  of  "  chastity  and  sobriety;"  and  others, 
like  M.  Pierre  Loti,  in  his  "  Madame  Chrysantheme,"  seem  to 
take  Japan  as  a  bright  and  fascinating  freak  of  geography  and 
ethnology :  too  petit,  bizarre,  grotesque,  minuscule,  maniere  to 
love;  too  drole,  mignon,  amusant,  aimable  to  speak  very  ill  of. 
Merchants  inveigh  against  the  unbusiness-like  qualities  of  the 
Japanese,  and  compare  them  disadvantageously  with  the  natives 
of  China ;  finding  them  petty,  shilly-shallying,  and  untrustwor- 
thy. Scientific  and  serious  natures  lament  the  lack  of  idealism, 
in  the  Japanese  mind.  Metaphysical,  psychological,  ethical 
questions  and  problems — say  these — have  no  interest  for  their 
practical  and  superficial  natures.  Good-hearted  they  are,  artis- 
tic, delightfully  polite,  nice  in  persons  and  ways ;  yet — declare 
other  judges — "  deceitful,  insincere,  vain,  frivolous,"  and  as  re- 
gards their  women,  tyrannical,  one-sided,  and  semi-barbarous. 
Medical  works,  portraying  them  physically,  tell  us  that  the  Jap- 
anese are  Mongols,  distinguished  by  a  yellowish  skin,  straight 
black  hair,  scanty  beard,  almost  total  absence  of  hair  on  the 
arms,  legs,  and  chest,  broadish  prominent  cheek-bones,  and  more 
or  less  obliquely  set  eyes. 

Compared  with  people  of  European  race  the  average  Japanese 
has  a  long  body  and  short  legs,  a  large  skull,  with  a  tendency  to 
prognathism,  a  flat  nose,  coarse  hair,  scanty  eyelashes,  prominent 
eyelids,  a  sallow  complexion,  and  a  low  stature.  The  average 
height  of  Japanese  men  is  about  the  same  as  that  of  European 
women.  The  women  are  proportionately  smaller  and  better- 
looking  than  the  men,  with  pretty  manners  and  charming  voices. 
Japanese  children  they  allow  to  be  most  taking,  with  their  grave, 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  93 

little,  demure  ways,  their  old-fashioned  airs,  their  almost  preter- 
natural propriety  of  conduct.  All  seem  to  conclude  that  the 
Japanese  have  less  highly  strung  nerves  than  Europeans,  bear- 
ing pain  with  admirable  calm,  and  meeting  death  with  compara- 


SOME   TYPES   OF  JAPANESE    BABIES. 


tive  indifference.  Mr.  Chamberlain  justly  attributes  this,  in  a 
large  degree,  to  the  silent  and  benign  influence  of  Buddhism,  as 
being  "a  tolerant  and  hopeful  creed,  promising  rest  at  last  to 
all."  It  is,  however,  a  fact  well  known  to  doctors  in  Japan, 
that  a  vast  number  of  maladies  there  are  hysterical ;  and  it  is 
doubtful  to  my  mind  whether  any  nation  possesses  a  more  finely 


94  Japonica. 

developed  nervous  organization  than  its  people.  Their  love  of 
light  and  delicate  pleasures ;  their  keen  appreciation  of  the  tea- 
cup, of  the  spray  of  cherry-blossom,  or  of  the  maple-branch, 
whose  leaves  are  green  stars,  of  the  tiny  pipe,  of  the  deliciously 
mingled  landscapes  of  their  country,  go  to  show  their  extreme 
impressionability.  I  should  be  the  last  to  depreciate  the  indu- 
bitable effect  of  the  gentle  and  lofty  teachings  of  Buddhism  in 
fortifying  and  elevating  the  national  nature,  but  my  own  opinion 
is,  that  the  central  characteristic  of  the  Japanese  is  self-respect, 
and  that  their  patience,  their  fearlessness,  their  quietism,  their 
resignation,  and  a  large  proportion  of  their  other  virtues,  have 
root  in  this  deep  and  universal  quality. 

As  for  the  people,  I  am,  and  always  shall  be,  of  good  St. 
Francis  Xavier's  feeling  :  "  This  nation  is  the  delight  of  my 
soul !  "  Never  have  I  passed  days  more  happy,  tranquil,  or  re- 
storative than  among  Japanese  of  all  classes,  in  the  cities,  towns, 
and  villages  of  Japan.  Possibly  that  is  because  I  have  had  no 
business  relations  with  my  kind  and  pleasant  Niponese  friends, 
and  have  never  talked  very  much  metaphysics  ;  but  it  seems  cer- 
tainly an  easy  way  to  keep  on  the  right  side  of  folks,  to  let  phi- 
losophy and  theology  alone.  Moreover,  it  is,  no  doubt,  necessary 
for  such  experiences  to  go  a  little  behind  that  sort  of  Japan 
which  you  find  on  the  Hatobas  of  Yokohama  or  Kobe  ;  in  the 
Yoshiivaras  of  those  and  the  other  open  ports.  At  very  little 
distance  from  the  surface,  which  we  civilizing  westerns  have 
done  our  best  to  spoil,  will  be  still  discovered  the  old,  changeless, 
high  -  tempered,  generous,  simple,  and  sweet  -  mannered  Japan 
wrhich  charmed  so  much  and  so  naturally  the  Lusitanian  saint 
and  the  Dutch  surgeon.  I  frankly  confess  it  has  entirely 
charmed  me  too ;  and  therefore  what  I  say  of  this  Japanese  na- 
tion, and  their  manners  and  customs,  must  be  received  with  the 
proper  caution  attaching  to  the  language  of  a  friend,  and  even  a 
lover.  But  where  else  in  the  world  does  there  exist  such  a  con- 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  95 

spiracy  to  be  agreeable  ;  such  a  wide-spread  compact  to  render 
the  difficult  affairs  of  life  as  smooth  aiid  graceful  as  circumstances 
admit ;  such  fair  decrees  of  fine  behavior  fixed  and  accepted  for 
all ;  such  universal  restraint  of  the  coarser  impulses  of  speech 
and  act ;  such  pretty  picturesqueness  of  daily  existence  ;  such 
lively  love  of  nature  as  the  embellisher  of  that  existence  ;  such 
sincere  delight  in  beautiful  artistic  things ;  such  frank  enjoy- 
ment of  the  enjoyable ;  such  tenderness  to  little  children  ;  such 
reverence  for  parents  and  old  persons  ;  such  wide-spread  refine- 
ment of  taste  and  habits  ;  such  courtesy  to  strangers  ;  such  will- 
ingness to  please  and  to  be  pleased  ? 

The  eye  is  not  less  delighted  perpetually  in  Japan  by  grace- 
ful and  varied  costumes,  than  the  hearing  is  gratified  by  those 
phrases  of  soft,  old-world  deference  and  consideration  which  fill 
the  air  like  plum  and  cherry  blossoms  falling.  It  stands  an  ab- 
solute fact  that  there  is  no  oath,  or  foul  inter jectionary  word  in 
Japanese,  and  when  common  coolies  quarrel,  or  when  a  stubborn 
Chinese  pony  jibs,  the  worst  you  catch  is  sore  !  "that !  that !  " 
— or  Tfoitsu  !  "the  fellow."  On  one  day  passed  in  England  or  the 
United  States  you  could  inhale  more  mephitic  atmosphere  pub- 
licly poisoned  with  vile,  angry  epithets,  than  in  a  month  of  the 
lowest  slums  of  Tokio,  or  Kyoto.  They  are  as  clean  a  people,  as 
to  their  tongues,  as  in  their  persons  ;  and  he  who  is  kuchi-gitanai, 
"  evil-mouthed,"  becomes  shunned  by  all  alike,  and  utterly  de- 
spised. A  good-tempered  word  will  oft-times  put  aside  the  most 
threatening  passion.  A  timber-barrow  was  being  wheeled  along 
in  a  narrow  road,  and  swept  away  the  corner  bamboo-pole  of 
a  citizen's  veranda,  bringing  down  some  tiles.  Out  he  comes, 
deeply  agitated,  to  expostulate  ;  and  because  the  ninsoku  stands 
bowing  with  covered  head,  endeavoring  to  explain,  the  shopkeeper 
tries  to  snatch  off  the  coolie's  reed  hat,  crying,  "  Do  you  dare  to 
say,  go  men  nasai,  to  me,  with  your  hat  upon  your  head  ?  "  This 
infuriates  the  coolie,  who  ceases  struggling  to  get  out  the  promise 


90  Japonica. 

that  they  will  come  back  in  an  hour  to  repair  damages,  and  to  ex- 
plain that  it  was  all  an  accident  due  to  a  fault  in  the  road.  Sud- 
denly the  shopkeeper  sees  for  himself  that  they  too  have  broken 
a  wheel  and  a  lantern,  and  realizes  his  over-impatience  as  to  the 
hat,  which,  being  tied  under  the  chin  and  ears,  could  not  be 
easily  doffed.  A  sense  of  equity  returns  ;  he  bows  low  and  says  : 
"  0  tacjai  de  gozariinas  !  "  "It  was  the  honorable  mutuality  !  " 
"  Yes,  Danna"  responds  the  immediately  mollified  cartman, 
"  truly  it  was  the  honorable  mutuality  !  "  and  with  a  profusion  of 
bows  the  quarrel  is  accommodated.  "  0  tagai"  has  made  them 
reasonable  again. 

But,  if  a  foreign  sojourner  must  speak  so  favorably  of  the 
men,  how  shall  he  avoid  an  apparent  extravagance  of  praise  in 
qualifying  these  sweet,  these  patient,  these  graceful,  these  high- 
bred, these  soft-voiced,  gentle,  kind,  quiet,  unselfish  women  of 
Japan  ?  They  seem,  taken  all  together,  so  amazingly  superior  to 
their  men-folk,  as  almost  to  belong  morally  and  socially  to  a 
higher  race.  In  a  sense  that  is  the  case,  for  though,  of  course, 
identical  in  blood  and  breeding,  Japanese  women  have  been 
reared  for  centuries  in  a  separate  school  from  the  men.  It  was 
the  hard  school  of  obedience,  of  submission,  of  resignation,  with 
no  pretentious  to  justify  the  view.  The  Japanese  male  has  con- 
sidered himself,  all  through  his  history,  the  superior  of  the 
graceful  and  gentle  companion  of  his  life,  who  is  taught,  from 
the  hour  when  she  disappoints  her  mother  by  arriving  in  this 
world,  to  humble  herself,  first  to  her  parents,  next  to  her  hus- 
band, and  lastly  to  her  children.  But  it  is  characteristic  of 
women,  in  all  ages  and  countries,  to  make  the  best  of  bad 
laws  and  customs,  and  even  to  turn  them  to  the  advantage  of 
themselves  and  of  the  men.  Thus  I  know  not  by  what  soft 
magic  of  content,  by  what  subtle  elasticity  of  nature  the  Jap- 
anese Avoman — in  theory  a  slave — in  practice  has  gained  very 
much  her  own  way  everywhere ;  and  obtains,  without  ex- 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts. 


97 


acting,  far  more   consideration   and  deference   than  might  be 
expected. 

It  is  an  unsolved  mystery  in  what  proportion  the  Mongol,  the 
Malay,  and  the  South  Sea  Islander,  with  perhaps  Arabs  and  Sem- 
itic peoples,  have  blended  to  constitute  this  unique,  gifted,  im- 
pressionable race.  Yet  it  is  a  still  greater  mystery  to  me  how 
the  Japanese  woman  has  developed  her  gracious  sweetness  and 
bright  serenity  in  the  atmosphere  of  unchivalrous  mal-estimation 
surrounding  her  from  early  times.  The  story  of  those  early  times 


QUEEN  OTO  TACHIBANI  HIME  LEAPING  INTO  THE  SEA. 

proves  abundantly  that  she  was  always  what  she  is  now — oto- 
nasliil  sliinsetsu  na — tender,  gentle,  and  devoted.  It  is  full  of 
legends  and  records  creditable  to  the  sex,  from  the  time  of  the 
great  queen  who  conquered  Corea,  and  of  the  lovely  Oto  Tachi- 
bani  Hime,  who  died  by  leaping  into  the  sea  to  appease  the 
tempest  and  save  her  husband,  the  Emperor,  down  to  Gompachi 
and  Komurasaki,  the  Borneo  and  Juliet  of  Tokio,  at  whose  grave 
I,  reverently,  burned  a  bundle  of  incense  sticks.  The  spot  is  a 
quiet  nook  in  a  bamboo  garden,  near  the  temple  of  Fudo  Sama 
at  Meguro,  where  a  tiny  pent-house  has  been  raised  over  the 
ancient  stones  marking  the  resting-place  of  the  ill-starred  Japan- 
7 


98  Japonica. 

ese  lovers.  Their  story  is  told  in  Mitford's  "  Tales  of  Old 
Japan,"  nor  can  you  peruse  it,  or  hear  any  native  relate  it,  with- 
out feeling  how  immeasurably  superior  Komurasaki — "Little 
Purple  " — was  to  Gompachi.  And  another  strange  thing  is,  that 
though  the  national  morality,  from  our  point  of  view,  would  be 
called  "low,"  and  the  position  accorded  to  women  has  assuredly 
not  been  such  as  to  make  them  heroic,  nowhere  in  the  world 
were  wives  more  faithful ;  and  nowhere  have  there  been  more 
moving  love-stories  than  in  Japan.  I  recall  a  tale — whether 
already  published  I  know  not — of  a  beautiful  Japanese  girl,  be- 
loved and  sought  in  marriage  by  a  handsome  but  worthless 
young  Samurai.  For  family  reasons  she  was  wedded  to  another 
young  nobleman  who  treated  her  very  well,  and  to  whom  she  be- 
came fondly  attached,  although  she  had  originally  returned  the 
passion  of  her  good-for-nothing  lover.  This  latter  held  some 
family  secret,  the  disclosure  of  which  would  have  been  fatal  to 
the  fortunes  and  reputation  of  her,  house.  A  year  or  two  after 
her  marriage  he  met  her  walking  abroad  in  Tokio,  and  felt  so 
violent  a  renewal  of  admiration  for  her  beauty  that  he  deter- 
mined to  stick  at  nothing  to  gain  her.  The  guilty  proposals 
which  he  managed  to  convey  to  her  being  indignantly  rejected, 
he  decided  to  bring  to  bear  upon  her  mother  the  knowledge 
which  he  possessed  of  the  family  secret.  It  happened  that  one 
day,  while  visiting  at  her  mother's  house,  she  overheard  her  des- 
perate suitor  threatening  the  aged  lady  with  death,  and  the  pub- 
lication of  the  household  disgrace,  if  she  did  not  obtain  for  him 
possession  of  his  beautiful  lost  mistress.  Her  mother's  distress 
and  danger,  and  the  sound  of  the  worthless  lover's  sword-blade 
ringing  as  it  left  the  scabbard,  caused  her  to  form  an  instant  res- 
olution. Breaking  into  the  room,  she  said,  "  I  have  heard  you, 
and  know  how  cruel  and  dangerous  you  are ;  but  for  the  sake  of 
our  former  attachment, '  and  for  my  mother's  peace,  and  the 
family  honor,  I  consent  to  what  you  demand,  on  condition  that 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts. 


99 


you  first  kill  my  husband.     He  lies  at  night   surrounded  by 
trustworthy  and  fearless  retainers.     I  will  give  them  sleeping 


ENDO   MOBITO'S  REMORSE. 


draughts,  and  you  must  come  in  the  dark  with  your  sword  and 
slay  him.  But  in  order  that  you  may  perceive  which  is  my  hus- 
band's head,  I  will  wet  it  with  water  after  he  has  fallen  asleep." 


ioo  Japonica. 

The  wicked  lover  eagerly  agreed ;  the  mother  was  too  terrified 
to  intervene.  At  the  appointed  hour  of  the  night,  when  all  was 
still,  he  made  his  way  into  the  yashiki,  and  advanced  unhindered, 
amid  the  slumbering  retainers,  into  the  darkened  chamber  of  the 
betrayed  lord.  Kneeling  down,  he  lightly  felt  head  after  head 
among  those  of  the  sleepers,  and  came  at  last  upon  one  saturated 
with  water.  With  a  quick  stroke  of  his  razor-like  blade  he  sev- 
ered the  head,  and,  rolling  it  in  his  cloth,  hurried  forth  into  the 
street  again,  that  he  might  thereafter  show  it  and  claim  fulfilment 
of  her  promise.  Arrived  at  his  own  house,  he  proceeded  to  un- 
fold his  dreadful  burden,  and  when  the  light  of  the  andou  fell 
upon  the  features,  it  was  no  man's  head  at  all,  but  the  lovely  face 
of  the  woman  whose  peace  he  had  ruined  met  his  affrighted  gaze. 
To  save  her  mother's  life,  the  family  name,  and  her  husband's 
honor,  she  had  cut  close  her  own  long  hair,  soaked  her  head  in 
water  and  laid  it  upon  the  pillow,  to  await  there,  with  splendid 
fortitude  and  self-abnegation,  the  certain  visit  of  the  murderer. 
Beside  her  pillow  was  found  a  letter  explaining  the  motives  and 
circumstances  of  her  deed,  and  the  guilty  lover  himself  became 
so  overwhelmed  with  shame  and  remorse  that,  though  he  es- 
caped with  life,  he  turned  monk  at  a  lonely  temple  in  the  moun- 
tains, performing  daily  penances  there  until  he  died. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  superior  virtue  and  elevation  of 
character  among  Japanese  women,  as  compared  with  Japanese 
men,  finds  a  simple  but  solid  illustration  in  the  subjoined  para- 
graph, taken  from  a  local  Tokio  newspaper.  The  date  is  recent, 
but  any  similar  return,  at  any  date  in  the  year,  and  in  almost 
any  part  of  Japan,  would  probably  manifest  the  same  extraordi- 
nary preponderance  of  male  offenders  over  female.  These  figures 
speak  for  themselves.  When  we  find  only  one  woman  under 
arrest  for  illegal  behavior  to  every  thirty  men,  it  may  be  judged 
how  law-abiding,  self-controlled,  and  gentle  in  act  and  word  and 
thought  are  these  patient  and  graceful  "daughters  of  the  Eising 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  101 

Sun."     Here  is  the  paragraph  from  the  Japan  Mail  of  March  13, 
1890: 

"  The  number  of  prisoners  in  various  Tokio  prisons,  on  the 
15th  instant,  were : 

Males.  Females. 

Under  examination 696  19 

Under  punishment 2,966  111 

In  special  rooms 242  8 

In  corrective  house 38  ... 

Totals 3,942        138 

96  arrests  and  83  releases  being  made  on  the  same  day." 

Such  as  they  are  to-day,  moreover,  these  Japanese  women 
have  always  been.  I  picked  up  in  Yokohama  an  old  Latin  book 
by  one  Bernhardus  Varenius,  dated  1673,  and  entitled  "  Descrip- 
tio  Regni  Japonise  et  Siam,"  dedicated  to  "  Her  most  Serene  and 
Puissant  Princess  Christina,  by  the  grace  of  God  Queen  of  the 
Swedes,  Goths,  and  Vandals.''  This  quaint  old  volume  was 
printed  at  Cambridge,  "  in  the  shop  of  John  Hayes,"  and  would 
well  repay  translation,  as  it  contains  many  interesting  particulars 
about  old  Japan,  and  innumerable  anecdotes  illustrating  the 
fidelity,  the  gentleness,  and  the  virtue  of  the  women  of  Japan. 
The  ancient  author  says  that  when  Japanese  have  been  asked 
why  they  keep  their  women  so  subordinate,  the  answer  was  that 
"  in  old  times,  when  they  had  more  liberty  and  authority,  deplor- 
able results  ensued,  recorded  in  history,  and  that  the  true  place 
of  woman  in  this  life  is  to  serve  the  man,  to  amuse  him  when 
tired  with  cares  and  labors,  and  to  bear  and  bring  up  his  chil- 
dren." Buddhism — badly  understood — has  added,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  to  this  spirit  of  disregard,  teaching  that  a  woman's  soul 
could  with  difficulty  be  saved.  But  such,  of  course,  was  never 
the  real  Indian  doctrine.  It  was  and  is  characteristic  of  the  in- 
equitable views  thus  entertained,  that  infidelity  in  the  wife  was 
made  a  capital  offence,  while  it  was  regarded  as  hardly  so  much 


102  Japonica. 

as  a  fault  in  the  husband.  The  Japanese  women,  being  taught 
obedience  and  silence  from  their  birth,  accepted  the  hard  laws 
made  by  the  men,  and  have  moulded  their  natures  in  accordance. 
My  Swedish  doctor  has  an  entire  chapter  headed  "  De  fidelitate  et 
pudore  fceminar um"  in  which  he  recites  many  noble  instances  of 
their  self-respect  and  high  sense  of  honor.  He  tells  the  story  of 
a  lady  of  rank  with  whom  the  Tycoon  once  fell  in  love,  and.  in 
order  that  he  might  possess  her,  played  the  part  of  David  with 
Uriah,  causing  the  husband  to  be  killed  in  battle.  Afterward  he 
commanded  that  she  should  come  to  the  palace,  whereupon  her 
answer,  given  in  the  Latin,  was  this  :  "  Most  potent  Lord !  if  I 
had  not  been  a  wife,  and  did  not  now  very  well  know  how  I  have 
been  made  a  widow,  it  would  behoove  me  silently  and  with 
reverence  to  rejoice  that  I  had  been  held  worthy  to  serve  and 
please  your  Majesty.  But  now,  if  you  oblige  me  to  comply,  I 
will  bite  out  my  own  tongue  and  die.  Yet,  if  your  Majesty  will 
grant  me  this  one  request,  namely,  to  pass  thirty  days  in  mourn- 
ing while  making  a  sepulchre  for  my  lord  and  paying  him  due 
honors,  I  shall  obey  your  Majesty's  will.  I  would  further  pray 
that  at  the  end  of  this  period  I  may  hold  a  feast  of  farewell  with 
my  friends  and  relations  in  the  highest  apartment  of  the  tower  of 
the  palace,  where  I  will  take  my  leave  of  them,  and  be  finally 
done  with  tears  and  sorrows."  The  Tycoon  consented,  the  feast 
was  held,  and  at  its  close  the  lady  rose,  and  pretending  to  go  out 
upon  the  roof  to  breathe  the  fresh  air,  threw  herself  down  upon 
the  stones  below,  and  was  instantly  killed.  Again,  my  doctor 
gives  an  ancient  example  of  the  family  pride  and  the  singular 
absence  of  selfishness  or  greed  which  marks  these  Japanese 
women  still.  A  certain  Daimio  had  in  his  palace  a  very  beautiful 
mistress,  of  whom  he  was  needlessly  jealous.  Her  mother,  an 
extremely  poor  widow,  used  to  send  her  letters  begging  for 
clothes  and  money,  and  whatever  the  daughter  had  she  would 
send,  but  was  far  too  self-respectful  to  ask  special  assistance  for 


Japanese  Ways,  and  Thoughts.  103 

her  mother,  or  to  reveal  her  indigence.  One  day  the  Daiiuio 
entering,  found  her  reading  a  letter  which  she  endeavored  to  con- 
ceal from  him.  Furious  with  suspicion,  he  demanded  to  see  it, 
and  she,  overwhelmed  with  shame,  thrust  the  thin  paper  into  her 
mouth  and  attempted  to  swallow  the  evidence  of  her  mother's 
poverty.  But  it  stuck  in  her  throat  and  suffocated  her.  The 
savage  husband,  more  than  ever  persuaded  that  she  was  con- 
cealing some  love-epistle,  drew  his  sword,  cut  open  her  throat, 
and  took  out  the  document,  reading  which  he  became  full  of 
shame  and  remorse ;  and  to  the  end  of  her  days,  the  story  says, 
kept  the  widow  in  his  palace  in  the  greatest  honor  and  comfort. 

What  renders  the  semi-angelic  sweetness  of  Japanese  wives, 
and  women  generally,  more  remarkable,  though  practically  per- 
haps it  really  goes  far  to  explain  it,  is  the  fact  that  marriage,  as 
we  know  it,  can  scarcely  be  said  to  exist  for  them.  It  is  true 
that  ceremonies  are  observed  at  a  nuptial  union,  especially 
among  the  upper  classes,  which  are  elaborate,  and  very  formally 
prescribed  in  the  Sho-rei-Hlkke,  or  "Book  of  Proprieties." 
There  one  may  learn  all  about  the  presents  of  white  silk  and 
wine  and  condiments ;  the  sword  of  dignity  for  the  father-in- 
law  ;  the  silk  robes  stitched  together  for  the  marriage  night ;  the 
bucket  containing  clams  to  make  the  wedding-soup  ;  the  garden- 
torches  ;  the  mixing  of  the  rice-meal  (curiously  like  the  Roman 
confarreatio) ;  the  two  candles  lighted  and  extinguished  to- 
gether ;  the  table  with  two  carved  wag-tails ;  the  dried  fish, 
seaweed,  and  chestnuts,  and  the  two  wine  bottles,  with  the  male 
and  female  butterfly.  But  all  these  are  for  very  great  people. 
For  ordinary  folk  little  more  is  observed  than  that  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  should  drink  together  nine  tiny  cups  of  sake,  after 
which  the  bride  changes  her  white  dress  for  a  kimono,  presented 
by  the  bridegroom,  and  the  union  is  registered  at  the  office  of 
the  Clio. 

Nevertheless,  as  far  as  the  man  is  concerned,  it  is  a  union 


104  Japonica. 

dependent  only  upon  his  good  pleasure.  He  can  and  does 
divorce  his  wife  on  any  of  seven  grounds,  among  which  are  "  dis- 
obedience," "  talking  too  much,"  and  "  jealousy."  Practically  he 
can  at  any  time  send  her  away,  and  in  proof  of  this  the  statistics 
of  1888  show  that  one  marriage  out  of  every  three  in  Japan 
ended  in  divorce.  A  very  amiable  friend  of  mine,  an  officer  of 
the  Imperial  Household,  told  me,  without  much  self-blame  or 
hesitation,  that  he  had  sent  a  wife  away,  to  whom  he  was  much 
attached,  and  who  was  of  faultless  character,  because  she  did  not 
get  on  well  with  her  mother-in-law  !  In  the  upper  classes  it  is 
doubtless  not  good  form  to  do  this  if  you  can  easily  help  it,  but 
the  discontented  husband  finds  easy  consolation  from  other  arms 
without  much  reproach  from  his  discarded  spouse,  who  early 
learns  that  watchword  of  a  Japanese  woman's  existence,  "da- 
matte."  To  be  silent,  under  whatever  neglect  or  mikindness,  is 
her  chief  resource,  forced  upon  her  not  less  by  tradition  than  by 
prudence.  That  deplorable  old  opportunist  Konfutze,  or  Con- 
fucius, wrote :  "  The  man  stands  in  importance  above  the 
woman ;  he  has  the  right  of  the  strong  over  the  weak.  Heaven 
ranks  before  earth,  and  a  prince  before  his  minister."  Again  he 
says,  "  The  hen  that  crows  in  the  morning  brings  misfortune." 
In  the  Japanese  Juslio  there  is  a  passage  which  runs — "  When 
the  goddesses  saw  the  gods  for  the  first  time,  they  were  the  first 
to  cry  out,  '  Oh  !  what  beautiful  males ! '  But  the  gods  were 
greatly  displeased,  and  said  :  '  We,  who  are  so  strong  and  pow- 
erful, should  by  rights  have  been  the  first  to  speak ;  how  is  it 
that,  on  the  contrary,  these  females  speak  first  ?  This  is  indeed 
vulgar.' " 

The  Japanese  wife,  therefore,  in  too  many  cases,  has  nothing 
whatever  intervening  between  her  gentle  head  and  this  suspended 
Damocles'  sword  of  easy  divorce,  except  the  good  will  of  her 
lord,  a  certain  social  sentiment,  and  her  daily  power  to  please. 
Where  unions  endure  the  husband  was  a  good  fellow,  and  as  for 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  105 

the  wife,  die  a  su  plaire  !  I  am,  by  my  inquiries,  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  it  was  really  for  this  reason  that  blackening  the  teeth 
and  shaving  the  eyebrows — still  a  quite  common  custom  in  Japan 
—was  adopted,  if  not  invented,  by  married  women,  in  order  defi- 
nitely to  declare  themselves  a  class  apart  from  concubines  and 
prostitutes,  the  iro-onna,  the  joro,  and  the  o-mekake.  It  is,  of 
course,  the  very  death  of  beauty  to  put  a  black  lacquer  on  the 
teeth,  which  are  generally  so  regular  and  so  brilliant,  and  to 
shave  away  the  eyebrows,  usually  so  arched  and  silken.  But 
from  the  time  of  Murasaki  Shikibu,  in  A.D.  1008,  wives  have 
actually  made  this  sacrifice,  to  give  themselves  the  unmistakable 
cachet  of  married  dignity,  even  at  the  cost  of  personal  charms 
and  also  of  physical  attractiveness.  Of  late  the  custom  is  largely 
dying  out,  and  naturally,  for  it  is  a  great  trouble,  as  well  as  a 
hideous  disfigurement,  to  paint  the  teeth  every  other  day  with  a 
sticky  mixture  of  iron-oxide  and  gall-nuts,  and  to  keep  the  eye- 
brows closely  shaved.  Thousands  of  women  ma}%  however,  still 
be  seen,  with  mouths  which  would  have  been  pretty,  darkened 
into  the  appearance  of  toothless  cavities ;  and,  perhaps,  latterly, 
it  was  rather  for  fashion  or  tradition  than  for  social  reasons  that 
the  habit  was  maintained.  But  I  do  not  think  it  is  an  error  to 
say  that  the  strange  sacrifice  originated,  or  was  at  any  rate  long 
continued,  from  the  desire  of  married  Japanese  women  to  estab- 
lish, at  any  expense  of  personal  vanity,  a  distinction  which  regis- 
tration at  the  local  office  poorly  confirmed,  and  which  the  hus- 
band's affection  and  equity  could  not  be  trusted  to  sustain. 

The  preliminaries  of  a  marriage — if  such  insecure  unions  can 
so  be  designated — are  as  follows :  When  a  boy  or  girl  has  reached 
a  marriageable  age,  the  parents  secure  a  suitable  partner.  Cus- 
tom rules  that  the  conduct  of  the  affair  must  be  entrusted  to  a 
middleman  (nakodo) — some  discreet  married  friend,  who  not 
only  negotiates  the  marriage,  but  remains  through  life  a  sort  of 
god-father  to  the  young  couple,  a  referee  to  whom  disputes  may 


106  Japonica. 

be  submitted  for  arbitration.  Having  fixed  on  an  eligible  parti, 
the  middleman  arranges  for  what  is  termed  the  mi-ai,  the  "  mut- 
ual viewing  " — a  meeting  at  which  the  pair  are  allowed  to  see, 
sometimes  even  to  speak  to,  each  other.  The  interview  should 
take  place  either  at  the  middleman's  own  residence,  or  at  some 
private  house  designated  by  the  parents  on  both  sides.  But 
among  the  middle  and  lower  classes  a  picnic,  a  party  to  the  the- 
atre, or  a  visit  to  a  temple,  often  serves  the  purpose.  If  the  man 
objects  to  the  girl,  or  the  girl  to  the  man,  after  the  "  mutual  in- 
spection," there  is  an  end  of  the  matter,  in  theory  at  least.  But 
in  practice  the  young  people  are  in  their  parents'  hands,  to  do  as 
their  parents  may  ordain.  The  girl,  in  particular,  is  a  nobody  in 
the  matter.  It  is  not  for  girls  to  have  opinions.  And  W.  Cham- 
berlain, who  is  the  high  authority  for  the  above  particulars,  ob- 
serves, on  the  general  subject,  in  his  admirable  little  book 
"  Things  Japanese  : " 

"  When  it  is  added  that  a  Japanese  bride  has  no  bridesmaids, 
that  the  young  couple  go  off  on  no  honeymoon,  that  a  Japanese 
wife  is  not  only  supposed  to  obey  her  husband,  but  actually  does 
so ;  that  the  husband,  if  well  enough  off,  probably  has  a  concu- 
bine besides,  and  makes  no  secret  of  it,  indeed  often  keeps  her 
in  the  same  house  with  his  wife,  and  that  the  mother-in-law, 
with  us  a  terror  to  the  man,  is  not  only  a  terror  but  a  daily  and 
hourly  cross  to  the  girl — for  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  girl  has 
to  live  with  her  husband's  family  and  be  at  the  beck  and  call  of 
his  relations — when  due  consideration  is  given  to  all  these  cir- 
cumstances, it  will  be  seen  that  marriage  in  Japan  is  a  vastly 
different  thing,  socially  as  well  as  legally,  from  marriage  in  Eng- 
land or  the  United  States.  In  this  part  of  the  world  it  is,  in 
truth,  a  case,  not  of  place  aux  dames,  but  place  aux  messieurs." 

The  outcome  of  it  all  is  a  different  standard  of  morality  from 
ours,  which  has,  perhaps,  its  own  excellences  and  advantages,  but 
admits  ideas  strange  and  unacceptable  to  Western  propriety. 


Japanese  Ways,  and  Thoughts. 


107 


Christianity  and  chivalry  combining  in  the  West  and  North  have 
made  a  sacrament  of  love.  In  Japan  Buddhism  has  sternly  dis- 
paraged human  affection,  Confucianism  has  degraded  it,  and  the 
unimaginative  nature  of  the  Japanese  male  has  made  it  a  pastime 


TSURU-KAME   DANCE. 


and  amusement  merely.  Japanese  women  generally  have  ac- 
cepted, in  theory,  this  inadequate  view  of  the  sexual  relations, 
and  for  many  ages  have  placed  fidelity  of  mind  higher  than 
chastity  of  body. 

No  doubt  in  the  upper  and  richer  classes  the  rule  is  that  a  girl 
should  be  very  carefully  reared  and  guarded  until  she  marries, 


108  Japonica. 

and  should  then  live  a  most  exemplary  and  dutiful  life,  innocent 
of  even  the  desire  to  stray  from  virtue,  till  the  day  when  the  fire 
is  lighted  to  consume  her  faithful  flesh.  But  that  very  lady 
would  talk  about  her  less  fortunate  sisters,  the  musmees  of  the 
Yoshiwara,  the  geishas,  and  the  more  or  less  permanent  concu- 
bines who  everywhere  abound,  in  a  way  which  would  quickly 
show  how  different  from  English  or  American  views  is  that  of 
Japanese  society  about  the  relations  of  the  sexes.  This  is  a 
country  where  it  is  not  only  common  for  a  girl  to  sell  herself 
to  public  use  for  the  sake  of  her  parents,  but  also  where  she 
will  be  rather  admired  and  praised  than  blamed  for  it,  and 
her  parents  pitied  more  than — as  they  should  be — execrated. 
This  is  a  country  where  prostitutes  are,  by  no  chance,  seen  in 
the  streets,  and  where  such  evil  displays  as  are  exhibited  in 
London  or  San  Francisco  would  shock  the  taste  and  shame  the 
modesty  of  everybody ;  yet  where,  every  nightfall,  thousands  of 
gayly-attired  damsels  sit  in  long  rows  behind  the  grille  of  the 
houses  in  countless  Yoshiwaras.  Not  once  in  a  thousand  in- 
stances do  even  these  poor  joro  lose  their  self-respect,  or  that 
sustained  propriety  and  savoir-faire  which  makes  one  say  that 
all  Japanese  women  alike  are  ladies  born.  In  the  same  mood 
and  mode  temporary  alliances  are  formed  (as  everybody  may 
know  who  has  read  that  brilliantly  offensive  book  "Madame 
Chrysan theme  "),  where  the  Japanese  mistress  generally  shows 
herself  as.  gentle,  as  attached,  as  faithful  as  if  she  were  mated  for 
life.  Yet  even  by  the  light  of  M.  Pierre  Loti's  glittering 
egotism,  the  most  casual  reader  may  perceive  how  infinitely 
superior,  morally  and  socially,  O  Kiku  San  was  to  her  French 
satirist ;  and  if  only  she  could  write  a  book  in  the  same  language 
entitled,  "  M.  Loti,"  by  Madame  Chrysantheme,  it  would  be  seen 
what  a  poor  creature  the  cultured  French  naval  officer  and 
flaneur  of  the  boulevards  must  appear  beside  the  gentle-hearted 
Asiatic  girl,  whose  immoralities  belonged  to  Confucianism,  and 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  109 

her  virtues  to  herself.  The  subject,  although  perhaps  the  most 
interesting  which  Japan  presents,  cannot,  of  course,  be  discussed 
here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  hasty  judgments  are  almost  sure  to 
entail  injustice  both  to  the  nation  and  the  individual. 

The  principal  Japanese  good  qualities,  according  to  a  high 
educational  authority  here,  Mr.  Nose  Ei,  are  "loyalty,  filial  piety, 
benevolence,  personal  cleanliness  ;  and  " — he  very  boldly  adds — 
"  chastity."  These,  he  mentions,  are  strictly  indigenous,  being 
due  neither  to  Buddhism  nor  Confucianism.  The  code  of  honor, 
called  Memboku,  that  governed  the  actions  of  all  the  well-born, 
and  constrained  them  to  the  highest  punctilio  and  strictest 
chivalry  of  speech  and  action,  was  purely  Japanese  in  source  and 
inspiration.  Mr.  Nose  Ei  sees  with  me  the  fundamental  charac- 
teristic of  Japanese  life  in  an  extreme  aversion  to  disgrace,  which 
implies  self-respect  and  the  passion  to  be  well  thought  of,  lead- 
ing to  the  constant  desire  to  please,  and  this  to  perfect  man- 
ners. 

"  In  other  countries,"  says  Mr.  Nose  Ei,  "  ethical  diction  is 
derived  from  sacred  writings.  The  terms  in  vogue  in  China 
came  from  the  classics ;  those  of  Europe  from  the  Bible ;  those 
of  India  and  Turkey  from  the  Koran  or  Buddhist  scriptures ; 
but  in  Japan  the  words  which  are  best  known  as  expressive  of 
moral  states,  actions,  and  feelings  are,  with  few  exceptions, 
purely  native,  and  have  no  connection  with  any  religious  creed 
whatever.  Mr.  Nose  Ei  gives  the  following  specimens  of  such 
words:  "  Ai-sumanu  (inexcusable,  improper,  wrong) ;  membo- 
kunai  (ashamed,  crestfallen) ;  futo-doki-sen-ban  (audacious,  inso- 
lent) ;  mottainai  (wrong,  improper) ;  kinodoku,  '  poison  of  the 
spirit '  (concern  for  others,  regret) ;  appare  (splendid,  admirable) ; 
furachi  (unprincipled,  lawless,  wicked) ;  kawai  (lovable,  dear, 
pretty) ;  otonashi  (quiet,  obedient,  meek)  ;  muri-no-nai  (just,  rea- 
sonable, right) ;  fugyoseki  (wicked  or  immoral  conduct)  ;  taisetsu 
shigoku  (of  the  greatest  consequence,  of  the  highest  value)  ;  ikiji 


no  Japonica. 

(obstinacy,  an  unyielding  temper) ;  ritsugisha  (an  upright, 
straightforward  person) ;  buclwho  (ignorant,  awkward,  bungling) ; 
and  kuchioshii  (a  thing  to  be  deplored  or  regretted)." 

This  is  as  true  as  it  is  striking,  and  goes  far  to  prove  that  the 
Japanese  really  did  invent  an  elaborate  morality  for  themselves  ; 
and  that  when  an  ancient  Samurai  said  "  sumanu  koto  !  "  about 
something  wrong,  and  preferred  to  disembowel  himself  rather 
than  do  it,  he  referred  his  conscience  to  "  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things,"  and  proved  by  example  that  "  revelations  "  are  not  nec- 
essary to  teach  men  to  love  the  right  and  hate  the  wrong.  Nay, 
the  poets  of  Japan  have,  again  and  again,  enforced  the  doctrine 
that  the  clean  spirit  makes  the  clean  body,  and  that  good  deeds 
are  better  than  long  prayers.  Sugawara  Michizane  wrote  : 

"  KoTcoro  dani  makoto  no 

Michi  ni  kanainaba 
Inorazu  totemo  Tcami  wa 
Manoranu," 

which  is,  being  freely  interpreted : 

"  So  long  as  a  man's  heart  stray 

No  step  from  his  road  of  right, 
He  may  pray,  or  forbear  to  pray, 
But  is  dear  in  the  Kami's*  sight." 

The  objection  to  second  marriages,  which  was  so  strongly 
felt  by  the  Japanese  women  of  former  days ;  the  Samurai's  dis- 
regard of  death  when  clan  obligations  had  to  be  fulfilled,  which 
was  so  conspicuous  in  the  old  days,  these  find  no  parallel  in 
Chinese  morals.  After  the  manner  of  most  Japanese  writers  on 
this  subject,  Mr.  Nose  Ei  dwells  on  the  loyalty  to  the  throne 
manifested  in  Japan  as  something  entirely  unique,  and  certainly 
the  Emperor's  name  and  person  are  still  "things  to  conjure 
with "  in  the  land.  I  stood  lately  all  day  near  His  Imperial 

*l.e.,  God's. 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  ill 

Majesty,  at  the  great  military  review  of  Nagoya,  aiid  studied  with 
natural  and  respectful  interest  the  form  and  bearing  of  the  man 
most  representative  in  all  this  world  of  the  principle  of  hereditary 
monarchy.  The  dark,  middle-sized,  silent,  absorbed  potentate 
upon  whom  I  gazed,  wearing  the  golden-peaked  kepi,  buckskin 
breeches,  and  dark-blue  general's  coat  with  the  golden-flowered 
chrysanthemum,  was  the  lineal  descendant,  through  an  unbroken 
line  of  Japanese  emperors,  from  Jimmu  Tenno,  who  reigned  two 
thousand  five  hundred  years  ago.  Nay,  more,  of  the  divine  gen- 
erations ending  with  Tzanagi  and  Tzanami,  who,  being  taught 
the  art  of  love  by  water-wagtails,  married  and  gave  birth  to  the 
various  islands  of  the  Japanese  Archipelago,  as  well  as  to  innu- 
merable gods  and  goddesses.  During  the  utmost  power  of  the 
Shoguns,  the  Mikado  always  remained  the  divine  head  of  the 
state,  the  fountain  of  honor,  although  the  Ho  jo  dynasty,  while 
they  ruled,  and  during  whose  sway,  by  the  by,  the  invading  fleet 
of  Kublai-Kan  was  repulsed,  thought  nothing  of  removing 
Mikados  to  distant  islands.  The  cannon-shots  fired  by  the  com- 
bined fleets  at  Shimonosliiki  brought  about  the  end  of  the  Sho- 
gunate,  and  in  1867-68  the  dreams  of  those  who  had  studied  and 
loved  ancient  Japanese  history  were  realized ;  things  went  back 
to  the  primitive  times  so  far  as  to  make  the  Emperor  actual  sove- 
reign again,  as  well  as  Mikado.  This  year  is  to  witness  the 
opening  of  the  first  parliament,  for  which  the  elections  have  just 
been  completed,  amid  a  quietude  which  may,  and  it  is  hoped 
will,  prove  permanent.  It  would  task  volumes  to  describe  the 
immense  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  Japan  since  what 
is  often  called  the  O  Jishin,  the  "great  political  earthquake."  Of 
all  these  changes  the  still  youthful  Emperor,  standing  in  the  ar- 
tillery smoke  upon  the  hill  near  Nagoya,  amid  the  wild  purple 
azaleas,  was  at  once  the  monument  and  the  symbol. 

No  change  was  greater  in  its  effect  upon  Japanese  life  than 
the  edict  of  January  1,  1877,  which  forever  took  his  two  swords 


112  Japonioa. 

out  of  the  girdle  of  the  Samurai.     These  high-born  gentlemen 
had  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  sword  as  the  life  and  soul  of 
their  order,  and  yet  in  a  single  day  they  laid  them  finally  and  si- 
lently aside.     Thucydides  justly  says  that  "to  carry  iron  (a-iBrjpo- 
<J>op€iv)  is  the  mark  of  barbarism  ; "  and  although  the  sword  taught 
noble  manners  it  led  to  cruel  deeds  and  bitter  tyranny.     There 
were  swashbucklers,  who  would  try  their  new  blades  upon  the 
bodies  of  beggars,  and  even  of  women  sleeping  by  the  wells.     An 
absolute  worship,  social  and  artistic,  arose  for  the  sword.     The 
Daimio  and  Samurai  made  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  time 
centre  around  it.     It  had  its  special  etiquettes ;  it  grew  to  be  at 
once   the    terror  and  the  safeguard  of  society;   and,  no  doubt, 
modern  Japanese  politeness  is  largely  traceable  to  those  punctil- 
ious days,  when  to  turn  the  point  of  a  sheathed  katana  toward 
anybody  was  a  challenge,  and  when  the  weapon  could  not  be  re- 
placed in  the  sheath — if  once  drawn — without  somebody's  blood. 
Craftsmanship  and  art  naturally  lavished  their  best  skill  upon 
this  national  symbol  of  the  Yamato-Damasliii  (the  "  spirit  of 
Japan  ").     Blades  were  brought  to  such  perfection  of  temper  that 
almost  miraculous  feats  are  recorded  of  them,  and  the  sword- 
smith's  profession  was  held  chief  of  all.     The  forging  of  a  great 
blade  was  conducted  with  ceremonies  as  solemn  as  those  attend- 
ing the  birth  of  a  nobleman's  child.     Daimios  often  gave  away 
whole  estates  for  a  famous  weapon,  or  for  the  pair  of  swords,  the 
long  katana,  and  the  shorter  ivakizaslii,  which  they  placed  in  the 
obi  of  the  eldest  son,  when  he  attained  the  age  of  fifteen  years. 
The  metal-workers  spent  all  the  resources  of  their  taste  and  skill 
in  ornamenting  the  guard,  tsuba;  the  menuki,  or  hilt-studs;  the 
pommel  of  the  handle,  kashira;  the  blade-ring,  fuchi;  the  cord- 
cleat,  kurikata,  and  the  scabbard-tip,  kojiri.     Daintier  or  more 
delightful  things  cannot  be  found  in  gold,  silver,  bronze,  and  in- 
laid, work  than  many  of  these  exhibit,  and  beautiful  and  wonder- 
ful toil  was  also  given  to  the  kodzuka,  a  short  dagger  kept  on  one 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  113 

side  of  the  large  sword,  and  to  the  kozai,  a  sort  of  sharp  skewer, 
bearing  the  warrior's  mon,  which  used  to  be  left  stuck  in  the 
corpse  of  the  slain  enemy,  as  a  species  of  card  of  ownership. 
How  much  the  pride  felt  in  these  exquisite  instruments  of  rage 
or  revenge,  and  the  fierce  punctilio  attaching  to  their  carriage, 
bred  and  fostered  violence,  was  acknowledged  by  the  old  govern- 
ments, which  would  frequently  issue  edicts  forbidding  such  and 
such  a  lord  even  to  bear  abroad  a  certain  weapon,  as  being  too 
notoriously  famous  and  deadly  to  be  kept  unused.  The  two- 
sworded  men  were,  besides,  marked  for  an  aristocracy  by  the 
mere  sight  of  the  twofold  lethal  implements  projecting  from  their 
girdle.  In  one  day,  nevertheless,  the  ancient  and  bloody  distinc- 
tion disappeared !  The  swords  vanished,  and  the  old  order  passed 
away  with  them.  You  may  now  buy  in  a  curio-shop  the  gold- 
hilted  blade  which  kept  a  province  in  fear,  and  as  likely  as  not 
your  boy,  and  your  daughter's  musmee,  are  children  of  a  Samurai, 
who  has  gone  into  business,  and  has  quite  forgotten  even  the 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  seppuku. 

This  seppuku — more  vulgarly  styled  hara-kiri,  or  "belly-cut- 
ting " — was  the  offspring  and  crown  of  the  Japanese  cult  of  the 
sword,  and  a  most  solemn  and  dignified  ceremony.  If  his  crime 
were  not  per  fie  very  heinous  or  disgraceful,  the  Samurai  was  al- 
lowed to  die  voluntarily,  by  his  beloved  steel ;  but  the  mode  of 
death  rendered  it  almost  the  highest  distinction.  The  warrior 
notified  to  die  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  great  nobleman.  New 
mats  with  white  binding,  covered  with  white  silk,  were  stretched 
for  his  seat ;  flags  with  quotations  from  the  sacred  books  were 
placed  at  the  four  corners;  and  the  candles  in  bamboo-stands 
were  also  wrapped  in  the  same  mourning  badges.  An  excessive 
illumination  was,  however,  thought  not  decorous.  Two  screens 
of  white  paper  shut  from  sight  the  short,  sharp  dirk,  laid  rever- 
ently upon  a  lacquered  tray,  the  new  white  bucket  to  hold  the 
head,  the  incense-burner,  the  pail  of  water,  and  the  copper  basin. 
8 


114  Japonica. 

The  honored  criminal  dines,  bathes,  puts  on  his  dress  of  cere- 
mony, and  takes  his  seat  on  the  mats  at  the  "  hour  of  the  mon- 
key," about  four  in  the  afternoon.  Censors  attend  from  the  gov- 
ernment to  witness  the  proceedings,  and  the  doomed  but  dignified 
Samurai  is  accompanied  by  six  gentlemen,  of  whom  two  are  his 
especial  seconds,  kaishi-ku,  who  may  be  his  close  friends,  and 
must  be  persons  of  rank,  well  acquainted  with  the  use  of  the 
sword.  It  was  high  etiquette  to  borrow  from  the  criminal  his 
own  weapon,  which  the  chief  kaishi-ku  would  hold  behind  him, 
ready  to  employ  at  the  proper  moment.  That  moment  arrived 
when  the  tray,  covered  with  white  embroidered  silk,  bearing  the 
dirk,  was  most  respectfully  presented  to  the  victim,  who  reaching 
out  to  take  it,  and  to  raise  it  to  his  forehead,  first  hitched  his 
sleeves  under  his  knees,  in  order  that  he  might  fall  forward,  and 
not  backward,  for  that  would  be  dishonorable.  Actual  disem- 
bowelling was  seldom  or  never  performed.  The  Samurai  plunged 
the  dirk,  more  or  less  deeply,  into  the  left  side  of  his  abdomen, 
and  at  that  instant,  or  sometimes  even  while  he  reached  out  for 
the  weapon,  his  chief  second  struck  off  his  head.  Afterward, 
while  he  knelt  and  wiped  the  blade  with  white  paper,  the  junior 
kaishi-ku  took  up  the  head  and  presented  it  to  the  censors  for 
identification,  carrying  it  by  the  top-knot  upon  thick  paper  laid 
on  the  palm  of  his  hand. 

I  must  forbid  myself  altogether  to  dwell  upon  Japanese  art, 
although  it  forms  so  large  a  part  of  the  life  of  the  people,  who 
are,  as  the  Greeks  were,  a  nation  of  artists;  greatest,  no  doubt, 
in  little  things.  What  the  Japanese  painter  and  designer  loves 
most  is  line  ;  and  never  have  there  been  such  masters  in  this  re- 
spect. The  great  exhibition  of  the  present  year  in  Tokio  shows 
the  chief  draughtsmen  and  painters  passing  into  a  new  style, 
where  they  will  employ  modern  methods  and  try  to  adopt  the 
European  technique.  Nobody  can  yet  tell  what  is  to  come  of  this ; 
at  present  the  results  are  not  very  promising.  But  they  have 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  117 

nothing  to  learn  as  carvers  of  ivory  and  wood  and  metal,  as  work- 
ers in  bronze,  and  at  the  exquisite  cloisonne  enamel,  the  latest 
specimens  of  which  are  the  very  finest.  In  porcelain  again, 
though  Japan  seems  to  have  learned  it  from  Corea,  she  has  done, 
as  everybody  knows,  wonderful  things  since  1COO  A.D.  In  the 
art  of  lacquer  the  Japanese  surpass  the  whole  world,  but  it  needs 
an  education  to  recognize  and  appreciate  really  first-class  speci- 
mens of  this.  As  for  Japanese  music,  there  is  not  much  to  praise 
in  it.  The  samisen  twangles  everywhere ;  but  its  effects  are  ter- 
ribly meagre,  the  airs  played  are  sadly  monotonous ;  the  only 
time  is  common  time  ;  there  is  no  harmony,  and  though  Japanese 
women  have  delightful  voices,  rendering  their  language  always 
musical,  the  style  of  singing  which  they  adopt  is  forced,  nasal, 
and  unnatural.  But  of  their  dancing — which  is  Javanese  rather 
than  Japanese  in  origin — I  confess  myself  a  confirmed  votary  and 
admirer.  It  has  not  indeed  the  measured  grace  of  the  Indian 
nautch-girl,  and  quite  ignores,  of  course — being  Japanese,  and 
therefore  sober,  restrained,  and,  in  an  Asiatic  way,  Greek — the 
vigorous  gymnastics  of  the  European  ballet,  or  the  violent  exer- 
cises of  a  London  ballroom.  But  if  you  love  charm  of  changing 
line,  rhythmical  movement  so  conceived  and  executed  that  pic- 
tiu*e  passes  into  picture  conveying  unbroken  and  delicate  ideas; 
if  you  know  how  to  appreciate  in  the  really  accomplished  geisha 
that  which  she  can  show  you,  a  nameless,  fleeting,  subtle  delight 
of  fluttering  robes  and  glancing  feet,  gliding  and  combining  grace, 
music,  and  motion  as  the  figures  of  Chosphori  do  on  the  friezes 
of  Phidias,  then  you  will  be  pleased,  as  you  sit  among  the  lac- 
quered dishes  of  your  Japanese  dinner,  to  watch  the  maiko  dressed 
like  flowers  and  waving  like  flowers  in  the  wind  to  the  strings  of 
the  koto,  samisen,  and  the  throbs  of  the  drum.  These  dances  are 
all  more  or  less  dramatic,  but  there  are  others,  including  the  re- 
ligious, historical,  and  idyllic  dances  of  the  No,  which  are  entirely 
classical,  traditional,  and  complicated  by  allusion,  being  conse- 


Japonica. 

quently  very  difficult   to  understand  without   a  key.     A  most 
beautiful  performance  witnessed  in  the  grounds  of  the  governor 


THE  "NO"  DANCE. 


of  Tokio  would  have  been  in  any  case  charming,  but  perfectly 
unintelligible  without  the  programmes  distributed  by  his  Excel- 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  119 

lency  among  the  guests.  By  the  help  of  these  we  comprehended 
that  the  skilful  danseuse  in  gold  and  blue,  gliding  hither  and 
thither,  was  Fujimusmee,  a  "  Wistaria  Maiden,"  disappointed  in 
love.  She  laments  over  the  fickleness  of  her  lover.  She  sends  him 
many  love-letters,  but  they  are  never  answered.  So  she  believes 
that  he  must  have  fallen  in  love  with  some  other  maiden.  She 
dances  eloquently  to  a  song  expressing  her  constant  but  despairing 
affection  for  him.  "  Beauteous  as  are  the  many-colored  clusters, 
none  is  as  fair  as  thou.  For  the  butterfly  that  I  have  left  behind, 
it  doubtless  blooms  and  smiles  forgetting  me."  We  also  learned 
to  follow  with  informed  interest  the  twinkling  steps  and  wander- 
ing evolutions  of  O  Kofuji,  in  the  dance  of  a  damsel  styled  "  The 
Pine  Breeze  on  the  Beach."  Her  light  feet  expounded  how,  in 
very  ancient  days,  a  noble  of  high  rank,  by  name  Yukihira,  dur- 
ing his  short  sojourn  at  a  seaside  village  named  Sumauoura 
(Beach  of  Suma),  fell  in  love  with  a  maiden  of  low  birth  named 
Matsukaze  (Pine-breeze).  The  maiden's  love  for  him  was  ten 
times  as  great.  But  on  account  of  the  difference  of  their  ranks 
they  loved  in  vain  and  were  soon  parted.  Long  after  the  deaths 
of  these  lovers  there  lived  at  Sumanoura  a  girl  called  Kofuji,  a 
salt-maker's  daughter.  The  unsatisfied  and  longing  spirit  of 
Matsukaze  fills  this  girl.  Kofuji  thinks  that  everything  she  sees 
is  Yukihira,  who  was  Matsukaze's  love.  She  fixes  on  a  pine-tree 
which  she  believes  to  be  her  lover,  and,  believing  that  she  is 
called  by  him,  runs  up  to  it.  Another  character,  Konobei,  is 
in  love  with  Kofuji,  and  as  she  utters  words  of  passion,  he,  imag- 
ining that  they  are  addressed  to  him,  expresses  his  willingness  to 
return  her  love.  It  is  simply  a  dance  of  a  love-lorn  girl  in  com- 
pany with  a  rural  swain,  but  full  of  such  grace,  such  artistic 
spirit,  such  measured  marriage  of  foot  and  heart,  that  a  Parisi- 
an or  Viennese  pas-seul  became  a  clumsy  athleticism  matched 
with  it. 

Japanese  names  well  deserve  a  paragraph  to  themselves.    The 


120 


Japonica. 


men,  if  of  good  descent,  have  the  Kabane,  a  sort  of  clan  or 
house-name  like  "Akimoto,"  "Tachibane,"  "Fukuzawa."  The 
Myoji  is  the  surname,  very  frequently  derived  from  localities,  the 
birthplaces  of  the  family,  as  Amenomori,  "the  grove  where  it 


'FUJI  MDSMKE." 


rains;"  Tanaka,  "amid  the  rice-fields;"  Yama-moto,  "at  the 
mountain's  foot."  Then  there  is  the  personal  appellation,  like 
Gentaro,  Tsunejiro,  often  answering  to  our  "Septimus,"  "Deci- 
mus,"  and  describing  the  order  of  a  boy's  birth  in  the  family ; 
but  the  jitsamyo,  or  true  name,  is  more  frequently  employed  in 
lieu  of  this,  and  corresponds  to  our  Christian  name,  such  as 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  121 

Marashige,  Yoshisada,  Tamotsu,  Takeji,  Mono.  Then  there  is 
the  Azana,  a  kind  of  title,  much  affected  by  Chinese  scholars, 
and  the  nom  de  plume  or  de  pinceau  taken  by  literary  or  artistic 
Japanese — persons  being  not  uncommonly  called  after  the  style 
of  their  residences.  Mr.  Chamberlain  adduces,  as  examples, 
Baslw-an,  "  banana  -  hermitage  -  man,"  and  Suzanoya-no-Aruji, 
"  the  master  of  the  abode  with  the  bell."  This  is  termed  the 
go.  And  there  is  also  the  Geimyo,  another  fashion  of  name 
adopted  by  actors,  singing-girls,  dancers,  and  professional  story- 
tellers, who  never  go  by  their  proper  appellations,  but  bear  one 
to  which  they  have  succeeded  at  a  tea-house,  or  theatre,  or  ya- 
doya.  Thus  the  most  celebrated  of  living  Japanese  dramatic 
performers,  who  can  melt  the  hardest  hearts  in  the  "  Forty-seven 
B/onins  "  and  fill  a  theatre  with  fluttering  paper  handkerchiefs, 
drawn  from  the  sleeve  to  wipe  away  the  tears  of  sympathy  or 
blow  the  nose  of  admiration,  is  not  really  Tchikawa  Danjuro, 
but  Mr.  Horikoshi  Shu.  Great  people,  when  they  die,  receive  a 
brand  new  cognomen,  as,  for  instance,  do  all  the  Mikados — this 
is  called  the  Okarina,  or  "going-away  name."  Indeed,  every 
Buddhist  of  Japan,  at  his  or  her  demise,  gets,  in  the  same  way, 
the  Kaimyo  or  posthumous  appellation,  ending  with  in,  koji, 
shinshi,  shinjo,  or  doji,  according  to  the  age,  sex,  rank,  and  sect 
of  the  departed.  But  by  some  happy  chance  the  names  of  the 
women  are  almost  always  pretty  and  poetical,  being  conferred 
after  some  flower,  tree,  natural  object,  cardinal  virtue,  or  word  of 
good  luck.  Thus  very  usual  appellatives  are  O  Yuki  San,  O 
Tatsu  San,  0  Kiku  San,  0  Kin  San,  0  Haru  San,  0  S/tika  San,  O 
Take  San,  and  0  Tori  San,  which  may  be  translated  "  The  Hon- 
orable Ladies,"  "Snow,"  "Dragon,"  "  Chrysanthemum,"  "  Gold," 
"  Spring,"  "  Antelope,"  "  Bamboo,"  and  "  Bird."  Among  the 
names  registered  on  the  books  of  the  Goshiwara,  given  in  a 
recent  official  guide,  were:  "Little  Pine,"  "Little  Butterfly," 
"  Brightness  of  the  Flowers,"  "  The  Jewel  Eiver,"  "  Gold  Mouu- 


122 


Japonica. 


tain,"  "  Pearl  Harp,"  "  The  Stork  that  Lives  a  Thousand  Years," 
"  Village  of  Flowers,"  "  Sea  Beach,"  "  The  Little  Dragon,"  "  Lit- 
tle Purple,"  " Silver,"  "Chrysanthemum,"  " Waterfall,"  " White 
Brightness,"  and  "  Forest  of  Cherries." 


DANJURO,   THE  FIRST  ACTOR  IN  JAPAN. 

In  the  "Forty-seven  Ronins"  and  other  characters. 

Lightly  as  religion  sits  on  the  minds  of  these  charming  peo- 
ple, they  are  still,  like  Westerns,  for  the  matter  of  that,  full  of 
superstitions.  In  point  of  fact  all  races  are  vastly  alike  in  this 
respect,  illustrating  the  pernicious  consequence  of  bad  theolo- 
gies ;  "  Uoko  no  kuni  demo  liito  no  kokoro  wa  chingaivanai,"  says 
the  Japanese  proverb,  meaning,  "  The  hearts  of  men  are  of  the 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  123 

same  sort  everywhere."  Thus  you  find  the  Japanese  immense 
believers  in  dreams  and  divination.  The  night  of  January  2d  is 
the  great  time  for  noting  visions.  Everybody  must  then  notice 
and  record  what  he  or  she  dreams.  There  are  thirty-eight 
varieties  of  vision  perfectly  catalogued  and  provided  for.  The 
first  four  are  simply  of  splendid  augury,  namely,  to  see  in  slum- 
ber Fuji-San,  a  falcon,  egg-fruit,  i.e.,  the  dark  purple  apple  of 
the  nasubi,  or  the  upper  sky.  To  dream  of  the  dawn  signifies 
recovery  from  illness.  To  dream  of  the  sun  and  moon  falling 
signifies  the  loss  of  one's  parents,  and  of  swallowing  the  sun  and 
moon,  to  have  a  distinguished  child.  To  dream  of  being  struck 
by  lightning  means  to  be  visited  by  a  signal  stroke  of  prosperity, 
and  of  hearing  thunder  to  obtain  promotion.  To  dream  of  being 
surrounded  by  clouds  means  to  prosper  in  business,  but  a  black 
cloud  whirling  downward  portends  illness.  To  dream  of  frost  is 
a  bad  omen  generally.  To  dream  of  being  caught  in  rain  pres- 
ages a  good  and  gratuitous  feed  of  rice  and  sake.  To  dream  of 
wind  blowing  means  to  become  sick.  To  dream  of  sunrise  sig- 
nifies marked  promotion ;  of  the  stars  coming  out,  of  great  for- 
tune ;  of  an  earthquake,  to  obtain  advancement.  To  dream  of  a 
big  stone  signifies  to  acquire  wealth ;  and  of  a  big  stone  placed 
in  a  garden,  or  of  mounting  on  a  rock,  is  also  fortunate,  though 
in  a  more  general  way.  To  dream  of  having  a  drain  dug  is  a 
happy  presage,  but  the  vision  of  a  land-slide  is  a  bad  business. 
To  dream  of  planting  trees  or  smelling  the  perfume  of  flowers  is 
good,  but  to  dream  of  entering  a  room  is  bad.  To  dream  of 
eating  a  pear  presages  divorce,  and  of  eating  a  persimmon  sick- 
ness to  one's  self,  while  a  vision  of  a  mulberry-tree  means  sick- 
ness for  one's  child.  The  hair  plays  an  important  part  in 
dreams.  If  one  sees  it  whitening,  or  dreams  of  getting  it 
dressed  or  washed,  the  omen  is  excellent ;  whereas  to  dream  of 
its  falling  out  signifies  an  evil  fate  for  one's  child.  To  lose  one's 
teeth  in  a  dream  presages  separation  from  relatives.  It  is  good 


124  Japonica. 

to  dream  of  getting  an  eruption  on  one's  face,  but  bad  to  dream 
of  perspiration.  It  is  also  an  excellent  thing  to  dream  of  gold 
and  silver  coming  out  of  one's  mouth,  or  of  drinking  milk ;  but 
if  one  dreams  of  getting  promotion,  misfortune  is  in  the  air.  A 
vision  of  being  wounded  by  a  burglar  portends  the  receipt  of  a 
favor  from  some  unexpected  quarter,  and,  strange  to  say,  to 
dream  of  wearing  mourning  points  to  speedy  promotion,  while 
to  see  a  funeral  in  sleep  is  a  sign  of  coming  joy.  Then  there  is 
a  series  of  dreams  to  which  the  interpretation  of  general  good 
fortune  attaches ;  they  are  to  dream  of  being  introduced  to  a 
distinguished  personage  ;  of  being  in  a  lofty  upper  story ;  of  a 
light  breaking  from  one's  body ;  of  moving  into  a  new  house ; 
of  putting  on  a  winter  garment ;  and  of  looking  into  a  mirror. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  extremely  bad  to  dream  of  breaking  a 
mirror,  while  to  dream  of  receiving  a  mirror  or  a  wine-cup  pres- 
ages the  birth  of  a  fine  child.  Finally,  to  dream  of  breaking  a 
door  means  that  one's  servants  will  run  away. 

It  will  be  noticed  the  Japanese  seers,  or  vision-readers,  fol- 
low the  Irish  maxim  of  "dhrarnes  going  by  conthrairies,"  and 
interpret  the  most  melancholy  visions  in  the  happiest  spirit.  I 
myself  happened  to  caution  some  Japanese  ladies,  at  a  railway 
crossing,  mentioning  that  I  had  dreamed  recently  we  were  all 
cut  to  pieces  by  a  passing  train.  "  Oh  !  ski  awase !  naru- 
hodo  !  "  one  exclaimed.  "  Really,  how  very  fortunate  !  Nothing 
could  be  of  better  omen,"  and  she  appeared  truly  radiant  at 
what  had  seemed  to  me  a  very  ill-starred  thing.  Perhaps  it  is 
part  of  the  national  habit  of  taking  all  untoward  things  lightly. 
The  universal  silent  social  compact  to  make  existence  as  agreea- 
ble for  everybody  as  possible,  includes  in  Japan  the  custom  of 
never  seeming  to  take  personal  woes  to  heart ;  above  all,  of  never 
saddening  other  people  with  them.  You  may  generally  tell  if 
some  disaster  has  occurred  to  a  friend  or  servant,  by  their  ex- 
treme cheerfulness  of  demeanor  at  the  time.  Yet  they  are  really 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  125 

very  sensitive  and  impressionable,  and  like  the  Athenians,  "  in 
all  things  Seia-iSaifjkovtoi,"  so  that  the  priests  make  most  of  their 
slender  revenues  out  of  copper  coins  given  for  charms ;  the  wire 
netting  of  the  temple-gates  are  covered  with  paper  prayers, 
chewed  into  pellets,  and  spat  at  the  guardian  gods ;  and  I  have 
seen  an  intelligent  lady,  who  was  sick,  while  the  doctor  was  be- 
ing sent  for,  swallow  devoutly  a  little  paper  picture  of  Buddha, 
and  afterward  ascribe  her  recovery  more  to  that  rude  illustration 
of  "  the  unspeakable  "  than  to  the  hypodermic  injection  of  mor- 
phia, which  really  gave  the  gentle  patient  sleep  and  restoration. 
Plenty  of  the  common  folk  still  believe  that  there  lives  a  hare  in 
the  moon  who  pestles  rice ;  and  that  the  moon  turns  red  in  autumn 
because  a  great  maple-tree  there  changes  the  color  of  its  foliage 
at  that  season  to  scarlet ;  as  also  that  two  stars,  Vega  and  the 
brightest  orb  of  Aquila,  were  formerly  a  herdsman  and  a  weav- 
ing girl,  who  now  live  on  opposite  sides  of  the  "  Milky  Kiver," 
and  cross  it  to  meet  and  make  love  once  every  seven  years.  At 
the  graves  of  Shirai  Gompachi  and  Komurasaki,  the  typical 
lovers  of  Tokio  in  old  times,  there  is  a  waterfall  by  a  temple, 
which  is  led  through  the  mouth  of  a  brazen  dragon  and  falls  in 
a  thick  stream  with  considerable  force.  It  is  considered  that  to 
stand  under  this  for  three  hours  will  wash  away  a  whole  twelve- 
month's peccadilloes,  and  accordingly  you  may  see,  not  only  in 
summer-time,  when  such  a  penance  is  rather  agreeable,  but  in 
the  depth  of  winter,  a  credulous  sinner  meekly  taking  the  full 
stream  of  the  taki  upon  his  repentant  head. 

You  will  notice  on  every  fan,  picture,  and  document  emanat- 
ing from  Japan  a  stamp  affixed.  It  is  the  mon  mis  eban  or 
yitsuin,  and  all  shops,  banks,  artists,  establishments,  individuals, 
possess  this  special  seal  for  the  purposes  of  signature  and  re- 
ceipts. In  old  times  the  sovereign  used  to  sign  treaties  with  his 
palm  dipped  in  blood  or  vermilion,  and  even  to-day  a  prisoner 
seals  his  statement  before  justice  with  the  tip  of  his  thumb. 


126 


Japonica. 


IMPRESSION  OF  THE  PALM 
OF  THE  EMPEROR  GO- 
8HIRA-KAWA,  USED  BY 
HIM  AS  A  SEAL. 

(Keigned  A.D.  1156-58.) 


Practically  everybody  uses  an  engraved  stamp  every  day  for  all 
sorts  of  purposes.  The  business  of  stamp-engraving  is  quite  an 
industry,  there  being  an  engraver's  shop  in 
almost  every  street.  When  a  student  joins 
a  school  he  must  have  his  stamp  ;  when 
money  is  paid  to  any  government  office,  the 
payer  has  to  hand  in  the  sum  with  a  paper 
stamped  with  his  jitsuin  ;  when  an  heir  suc- 
ceeds to  a  family  estate,  it  is  the  custom  for 
him  to  provide  himself  with  a  new  stamp. 
When  a  company  is  started,  however  small 
may  be  its  capital,  and  however  slight  its 
credit,  its  stamp  at  least  will  be  more  or  less 
a  work  of  art  and  a  thing  of  beauty.  You 
choose  a  monogram,  a  Chinese  character,  a 
word,  or  a  motto  for  your  seal,  which  may  be  registered.  Mine 
bears  the  Japanese  proverb,  Wataru  sekai  ni,  oni  wa  naski,  "  I 
have  wandered  all  over  the  world  without  meeting  one  devil !  " 

I  hope  I  have  not  spoken  unjustly  about  the  Japanese  man. 
He  is  full  of  good  qualities,  and  does  well  to  be  proud  of  him- 
self and  his  country,  a  poet  whereof  has  well  written  : 

Shikishima  no 

Yamato-gokoro  wo 
Hito  towaba 

Asa-lii  ni  niou 

Yama-zakitra-bana  ! 

Which  may  be  translated  : 

"If  it  shall  happen  that  one 

Ask'd  the  Japanese  heart, 

'  How  may  we  know  it  apart  ? ' 
Point  where  the  cherry-blooms  wave, 
Lightsome  and  bright  and  brave, 
In  the  gold  of  the  morning  sun, 

There  is  the  Japanese  heart !  " 


Japanese  Ways  and  Thoughts.  127 

A  great  future  awaits  Japan  and  the  Japanese  man,  I  believe, 
but  he  will  have  to  be  better  aware  of  the  goodness  of  his  gods 
in  bestowing  such  women  upon  the  country.  In  the  ever-ex- 
tending education  of  the  gentler  sex  resides,  I  think,  the  chief 
condition  for  the  happy  development  of  the  land.  At  present 
there  exists  too  much  of  the  spirit  expressed  in  the  native  pro- 
verb, Shicliinin  no  ko  wo  nasu  to  mo,  onna  ni  kokoro  wo  yurusu-na, 
meaning,  "  Though  a  woman  has  borne  you  seven  children,  never 
trust  her !  "  It  is  still  true,  as  Mr.  Chamberlain  writes  : 

"  Japanese  women  are  most  womanly — kind,  gentle,  pretty. 
But  the  way  in  which  they  are  treated  by  the  men  has  hitherto 
been  such  as  might  cause  a  pang  to  any  generous  European 
heart.  No  wonder  that  some  of  them  are  at  last  endeavoring  to 
emancipate  themselves.  A  woman's  lot  is  summed  up  in  what 
are  termed,  '  the  three  obediences ' — obedience,  while  yet  un- 
married, to  a  father ;  obedience,  when  married,  to  a  husband  and 
that  husband's  parents ;  obedience,  when  widowed,  to  a  son.  At 
the  present  moment  the  greatest  duchess  or  marchioness  in  the 
land  is  still  her  husband's  drudge.  She  fetches  and  carries  for 
him,  bows  down  humbly  in  the  hall  when  my  lord  sallies  forth 
on  his  walks  abroad,  waits  upon  him  at  meals,  may  be  divorced 
at  his  good  pleasure.  Two  grotesquely  different  influences  are 
at  work  to  undermine  this  state  of  slavery — one,  European 
theories  concerning  the  relation  of  the  sexes ;  the  other,  European 
clothes !  The  same  individual  who  struts  into  a  room  before  his 
wife  when  she  is  dressed  a  la  Japonaise,  lets  her  go  in  first  when 
she  is  dressed  a  la  Europeenne.  It  is  to  be  feared,  however,  that 
such  acts  of  courtesy  do  not  extend  to  the  home  where  there  is 
no  one  by  to  see  ;  for  most  Japanese  men,  even  in  this  very  year 
of  grace  1890,  make  no  secret  of  their  disdain  for  the  female  sex. 
Still,  it  is  a  first  step  that  even  on  some  occasions  consideration 
for  women  should  at  least  be  simulated." 

Perhaps  the  new  civil  code  and  the  opening  parliament  will 


128  Japonica. 

introduce  nobler  laws  and  new  recognition  of  the  debt  which 
Japan  owes  to  her  gentle,  patient,  bright,  and  soft-souled  woman- 
kind. Perhaps,  on  the  other  hand,  in  meddling  with  her  old- 
world  Asiatic  grace  and  status,  modern  ideas  will  spoil  this 
sweetest  Daughter  of  the  Sun !  At  all  events,  in  bidding  fare- 
well to  Japan,  every  visitor's  last  and  most  grateful  sayonaras 
will  be  addressed  in  thought  to  her,  more  than  to  anybody  or 
anything  else  in  the  Kam.i-no-kuni,  the  "  country  of  the  gods ;  " 
and  the  sound  lingering  longest  in  his  ears  will  assuredly  be  her 
musical  Mata,  dozo,  irrashai !  "  Be  pleased  to  come  again  !  " 


SIR  EDWIN  ARNOLD'S  SEAL. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


JAN  2  3  1998 
REC'D  LD-URl 

JAN  2  01998 


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REC'D  YRL 


2 1 2003 


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